Last year, San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) voted to install 33 cameras at high-risk intersections across the city beginning in late April. Those cameras issued more than 30,000 warnings in their first month of operation—that's more than 1,000 warnings per day, and the final 11 cameras aren't even up and running yet.
According to SF MTA, the first batch of 22 cameras was launched on March 20th, 2024, in response to a new state law that allowed such changes. Walking advocacy groups, among others, had petitioned for the installation on the grounds of pedestrian safety.
The San Francisco Chronicle said the cameras were placed in areas with a history of speeding and crashes. These areas included school zones and commercial corridors, with the cameras snatching plate photos of vehicles traveling at least 11 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.
Nearly half the warnings were issued from cameras at the border of Golden Gate Park, which will likely be the stretch of road most familiar to us outsiders, and those cameras didn't come online until April 22, data from SFMTA said.
However, San Francisco's camera program is still in its trial phase, meaning these "tickets" issued by the cameras are just warnings for now, aimed at lowering the overall speed in these high-risk areas. But that's about to change once the program is fully implemented.
Those traveling 11-15 mph over the limit are fined $50 according to California state law, with the price increasing to $500 for any vehicle traveling 100 mph or more. (Frankly, that seems a bit low for getting caught doing a buck anywhere in San Francisco's congested tangle of streets).
Given the staggering number of tickets handed out during the trial phase of this camera rollout, we'd guess drivers will learn to curb their speeds in these areas. But it's definitely one lesson to keep in your back pocket: Slow down in San Francisco.
Source: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency via San Francisco Chronicle
