SFMTA began issuing speed camera citations at 33 intersections across the city on Tuesday. "The city has been testing the cameras out with a warning period since March," said Mayor Daniel Lurie in a statement. "Data from the warning period shows drivers are already slowing down before any fines have been issued, showing that the program is achieving its goal of shifting behavior."
The data also showed 350,000 speed violations since the program launch, confirming that reckless driving in the city is out of control. Fines will range from $50 to $500, depending on the severity of the speeding violation. Revenue collected through San Francisco’s speed cameras will be used to create safer streets.
"Speed cameras dramatically shift behavior and can reduce the number of severe and fatal crashes by as much as 58 percent," wrote Walk San Francisco's Marta Lindsey. "In New York City, the speed camera program has resulted in a 94 percent reduction in speeding at speed camera locations and contributed to significant decreases in pedestrian injuries and fatalities."
But as Lindsey stressed during an event Tuesday morning in Cow Hollow to mark the start of fines, the current program, hard-fought as it was, won't be enough on its own to achieve Vision Zero.
"We need every solution," she said in front of a group of survivors of traffic violence
By every solution, she wants to see the speed-camera program expanded beyond the 33-intersection pilot. In addition, it should be coupled with protected bike lanes, speed bumps, bulb-outs, chicanes, lane reductions, and every other available tool for making streets safe.
That's a point not lost on Richard Zieman, whose son Andrew was killed in 2021 by a speeding driver in front of Sherman Elementary School, near the location of the event. In a statement given underneath one of the newly installed speed cameras, he stressed that the driver responsible for his son's death "was not even driving the fastest." In fact, "every car tracked with him was at excess speed."
Despite the tragedy, only small modifications—made of plastic and paint—were added to the intersection corners. The most important safety improvement for the street, a proposed lane reduction, was vetoed by SFMTA.
All of which underscores Lindsey's point about the need for a comprehensive strategy to combat traffic violence. SFMTA has to do everything it can to discourage speeding and other forms of reckless driving through street design. They still need to install the promised road diet on Franklin, for example. Speed cameras will help reduce incidents of traffic violence, no doubt. But they're just a start.
