San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose to Finally get Speed Cameras

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Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 645, legislation that will allow a speed camera pilot in San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, as well as Los Angeles and other Southern California cities.

Advocates, who have worked on multiple versions of “Automated speed enforcement” (ASE) for years only to have the bills fail at various points in the legislative process, were elated.

“This is big. San Francisco will now have a powerful, proven tool to help take on the #1 cause of severe and fatal crashes on our streets: speed,” wrote Walk San Francisco’s Jodie Medeiros in an email about the victory. “I am overjoyed, especially because Walk San Francisco and our Families for Safe Streets group have been working on speed camera legislation since 2017!”

“The data is incredibly clear that speed kills. Automated speed enforcement will save lives,” wrote City Attorney David Chiu in a statement. As an Assemblymember, he authored previous versions of this bill (A.B. 342 in 2017 and A.B. 550 in 2021). “I’m thrilled San Francisco can now use this proven tool to increase street safety and protect our communities from deadly speeding.”

This year’s bill, A.B. 645, was authored by Glendale Assemblymember Laura Friedman, and had multiple co-authors, including Assemblymember Phil Ting and Senator Scott Wiener, as well as Assemblymembers Marc Berman, Matt Haney, Alex Lee, and Buffy Wicks.

Medeiros said that Walk San Francisco’s supporters have expressed gratitude that advocates continued the long fight for ASE. “I think a big part of why is that more than ever, we’re all feeling the threat of speed in a really scary way. Dangerous speeds have to be addressed.”

Walk San Francisco is celebrating the new law tonight/Monday, October 16, 6-8 p.m., on the back patio of Casements Bar in the Mission, 2351 Mission Street at 20th, S.F.

For more on the details on the law, including its limitations, check out past coverage in Streetsblog California.

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