Data: San Francisco Traffic Cameras Reduce Speeding by 72%

Speeding dropped by 72 percent compared to the prior year at San Francisco locations where the city installed traffic cameras, reports James Salazar in the San Francisco Examiner.

The cameras, which were installed in March, are triggered when a driver goes 11 miles over the posted speed limit. Citations are then inspected and confirmed by SFMTA employees. 

After an initial rise in citations, total warnings and citations fell every week starting in July, while average speed for violators dropped in July and August. “Two-thirds of the vehicles that received warnings or citations haven’t received a second, the SFMTA said.”

Street safety advocates caution that while speed cameras are effective in the locations where they’re installed, they do little to slow drivers in other parts of the city, and a safe streets plan should include more efforts to offer alternative transportation modes and improve transit. “The Board of Supervisors recently unanimously passed the Street Safety Act, which includes commitments such as requiring the San Francisco Police Department to develop a traffic-enforcement strategy that complements the speed cameras, as well as expanding the SFMTA’s Biking and Rolling Plan.”