San Francisco on Thursday became the first city in California to launch a network of speed cameras. Sergio Quintana reports.
San Francisco on Thursday became the first city in California to launch a network of speed cameras.
The pilot program was launched to encourage drivers to slow down in problem areas, such as Sulton Street and Arguello Boulevard.
"It’s right next to Golden Gate Park. All day long, you have so many people crossing here," said Marta Lindsey with Walk San Francisco.
Lindsey said there's been one too many close calls with speeding incidents. In the past 10 years, high speeds have resulted in more than 600 crashes and three deaths in the area.
That area will be just one of 33 locations where the city will begin operating the new speed cameras.
The pilot program, set to launch in six cities across the state, will be installed in areas where a significant amount of traffic-related deaths have occurred. Cars caught on camera going more than 11 mph above the speed limit will receive a citation ranging from $50 to $500.
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Violations will be mailed to the car owner within two weeks of the speeding incident.
Gautam Krishnamurthi of San Francisco said he sometimes drives faster than he should along Fulton but acknowledged that the cameras are needed to keep people safe.
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"I’m not going to be the first person to say I don’t live on this street, and I don’t speed, but I think it will definitely help slow people down," he said.
Jaimie Vanpernis said they hope the cameras can solve the speeding issue in problem areas.
"We walk our dogs to the park twice a day. We take our lives into our hands every time we cross Fulton," Vanpernis said.
The network of speed cameras is a project City Attorney David Chiu has been working on for about 10 years. He advocated for it when he was a state legislator.
"Over the past decade on the streets of San Francisco we lost 350 human lives and so much of this was preventable," Chiu said. "And we know that speed is driving this."
