San Francisco is synonymous with traffic. Maybe not known for traffic as bad as Los Angeles, but in any big city traffic is always an issue. Commuting around the city can be a nightmare, being stuck in traffic on your way to work in the morning or even on your home after a long day of work. Everybody just wants to get home. Not only is traffic unbearable during commuting, but even on the weekends. When you want to go over the bridge to enjoy a nice getaway you can get stuck for over an hour of traffic. Even more outrageous, San Francisco is a small city geographically, being seven miles wide and seven miles long. Even with its relatively small size, getting from one side of the city to the other, can take almost an hour. Not even seven miles in San Francisco can be covered in under an hour on an average day. That’s absurd.
Following this reputation it’s common for people to be speeding if they woke up late to try to make up for time. But as we know this is foolish as you are only putting yourself and others more at risk of an accident. The only way to get somewhere faster in a car is just by leaving earlier. In 2024 according to Vision Zero SF there were 41 fatalities due to motor accidents. These can be avoided with safer driving practices. In an attempt to reduce these fatalities to zero San Francisco has added speed safety cameras.
These speed safety cameras have been installed all over the city to “address excessive speeding and reduce severe fatal injury traffic incidents” according to SFMTA’s website. Over 33 cameras were placed all around the streets of San Francisco. Fines range from $50-500$ depending on how many mph over the speed limit you were. The more you go over the speed limit, the more you will get fined.The SFMTA estimates they will give out somewhere in the neighborhood of 42,000 citations every day.
If so many citations are expected to go out everyday this will definitely do its job to reduce speeding. But the handing out of tickets left and right will cost drivers. Especially with the ease the camera can take a picture of the license plate. Without even knowing it you will receive a fine in the mail up to 500$ dollars. This is outrageous to some people.
The city has spent $7.4 million dollars in the last six years on this project. This cost could have gone to other sectors of the city to help out other more dire issues. But the attempt to reduce fatalities from reckless driving is definitely a step in the right direction to make the city safer. But is it really the most important issue in San Francisco right now?
If you don’t want a surprise in the mail your best bet is to slow down and if you see a black camera setup, know that it’s tracking your vehicle’s speed when you come through.