PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 30, 2026
CONTACT: Jodie Medeiros, Executive Director, Walk SF, jodie@walksf.org, 415.596.1580
Newly released data on San Francisco’s speed cameras shows continued reductions in dangerous speeding
Quarterly data shows speed camera program is changing driver behavior
San Francisco, Calif. – The latest quarterly data is now live from San Francisco’s speed camera program, the first of six in California. The data includes findings from September to December 2025.
Data from the SFMTA shows that speed cameras are already proving effective at changing driver behavior and making streets safer. Since the latest release of data in October, violations continue to drop month-over-month, as well as the average speed for an issued violation. Data shows a 27% decrease in drivers going 21+ miles per hour over the speed limit. Excessive dangerous speeding is decreasing where speed cameras have been installed.
Speeding is the #1 cause of severe and fatal traffic crashes in San Francisco.
“The data on speed cameras continues to trend in the right direction. Speeding is down and drivers are changing their behavior,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director for Walk San Francisco. “The goal of the technology is to save lives.”
Jenny Yu, a founding member of San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets, advocated for years with other victims for San Francisco to have legal authority to use speed cameras. Yu’s mother was hit by a speeding driver while crossing Park Presidio in the Richmond neighborhood.
“I’m happy to see that drivers are changing their behavior and slowing down,” said Yu. Yu’s mother Judy suffered severe traumatic brain injuries when she was hit, among other injuries, and has required 24-hour-care since her crash. Judy has significant cognitive impairment, frequent headaches, and suicidal tendencies.
“I fought so hard for speed cameras because I know what speeding can do to the human body, and the devastation it does to a family. I never want anyone to go through what my family has gone through,” said Yu. “I tell all drivers, ‘Slow down. Lives depend on it.”
Data released by the SFMTA shows there has been a 78% decline in speeding vehicles at the locations where speed studies were conducted since the cameras were installed. This is equivalent to approximately 40,000 fewer cars per day speeding in San Francisco thanks to the use of the speed cameras.
The locations with the highest volume of violations are Bryant Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets; Bayshore Boulevard between the 101 Off-ramp and Tunnel Avenue; and Monterey Boulevard between Edna and Congo Streets. All three locations are wide, multi-lane roads located near freeway entrances.
The data showing speeds declining drastically on streets like Geneva Ave, which runs parallel to Crocker Amazon Park, is encouraging. Slowing vehicles near the places where our most vulnerable go, like children and seniors, is critical to ending injuries and deaths. The full data set can be found here.
“When speeds come down, the risk of severe or fatal crashes comes down as well,” said SFMTA Director of Streets Viktoriya Wise. “These early results confirm the cameras are doing exactly what they’re designed to do: encourage safer driving speeds. Protecting our most vulnerable road users is the goal, and we will continue prioritizing proven safety tools, including speed cameras, as part of the Mayor’s citywide Street Safety Initiative.”
San Francisco was the first city in California to implement speed cameras after the passage of AB 645 in 2023. In January, Oakland was the second city to activate their cameras. The other four cities allowed to pilot speed cameras (San Jose, Los Angeles, Glendale, and Long Beach) have plans to launch programs in 2026.
“We are encouraging other cities to launch their programs. The success of San Francisco’s program should be motivation for these cities to get their program up and running to reduce speeds and save lives,” said Medeiros.
In 2025, San Francisco elected leaders pledged to make faster progress on traffic safety. The Street Safety Act, authored by District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors on September 16, 2025. Then, on December 15, Mayor Lurie signed a wide-ranging executive directive on traffic safety.
Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Street Safety Initiative includes important actions, including:
- Continuing to prioritize the use of automated traffic enforcement, including speed cameras and red light cameras.
- Updating the City’s Residential Traffic Calming Program, which facilitates the installation of speed humps, tables, and cushions.
- Establishes a first-ever Safe Streets Task Force within the Mayor’s Office, a key element of the most successful Vision Zero cities around the world.
- Brings 15 agencies together on traffic safety.
- Commits to a safe systems, data-driven, multiagency, and preventative approach.
- Establishing a public dashboard updated quarterly with outcomes-based metrics to assess progress toward ending severe and fatal crashes, plus more regular updates of the high-injury network and crash data analysis.
- Directs agencies to complete many of the actions in the Street Safety Act.
BACKGROUND:
The threat of dangerous speeding is significant – and growing.
The faster a driver is going, the more likely a crash is to occur and the more serious the consequences. A driver has a smaller scope of vision, less time to react, and can’t stop the vehicle as quickly. And the human body can’t withstand the additional force as speeds rise.
For every mile faster a driver goes, the threat rises quickly. Doubling a car’s speed quadruples its kinetic energy, making the stakes increasingly high above 25 MPH.
By 40 MPH, about 75% of pedestrians will suffer a life-threatening injury or die if hit. This likely underestimates risk because the studies this is based on do not take into account how much larger and heavier vehicles are today. The average American passenger vehicle is now 8 inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier than it was three decades ago. SUVs and trucks are now the dominant type of vehicle, making up almost 75% of the market share.
It’s not just that vehicles are bigger and heavier, making crashes even deadlier for those outside the vehicle.
It’s also easier than ever for drivers to dangerously accelerate, and too often, they do. The automobile industry continues to design vehicles that are dramatically faster than in previous generations. The average American vehicle from model year 2021 could reach 60 mph in 7.7 seconds. This is about twice as fast as cars purchased in the early 1980s. Electric vehicles are even faster than the average American vehicle, with many reaching 60 MPH in only a few seconds.
Dangerous speeding is the #1 cause of severe and fatal traffic crashes in San Francisco and statewide.
While in 2025 San Francisco had one of the lowest numbers of traffic deaths in a decade, the previous year was the highest (42) since 2014. The percentage of total crashes resulting in death has been rising in recent years, as well as the number of speed-related crashes (read more in this 2024 SFMTA report).
Speed cameras are a proven solution to change driver behavior and save lives.
Speed cameras dramatically shift behavior and can reduce the number of severe and fatal crashes by as much as 58%. In New York City, the speed camera program has resulted in a 94 percent reduction in speeding at speed camera locations and attributed with significant decreases in pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
San Francisco is the first city in California to launch speed cameras on its streets.
With the launch of San Francisco’s speed camera program, California joined 21 states in allowing the use of speed cameras to enforce one of the deadliest driver behaviors. San Francisco is the first city in California to launch its speed camera program.
The speed camera program is designed to change behavior, with fines starting at just $50 and has important equity and privacy provisions.
Assembly Bill 645, signed into law on October 13, 2023, allows San Francisco (plus Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, and Long Beach) to pilot the use of speed cameras.
AB 645 was a thoughtfully-written bill with strong privacy protections and equity considerations. AB 645 doesn’t allow any facial recognition with the cameras. Only the rear license plate of a speeding vehicle will be captured as part of the program. The data will be stored for SFMTA use only and will not be shared with any other agency, unless court ordered to do so.
Speed camera violations have no criminal penalties and don’t add points against a driver’s license at the state Department of Motor Vehicles. San Francisco will reduce fines for those under the poverty line by 80% or offer community service, and reduce fines by 50% for individuals 200% above the poverty level. Learn more about San Francisco’s speed camera program.
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Walk San Francisco (‘Walk SF’) advocates for safe streets for everyone who walks. Since our founding in 1998, Walk SF has been leading the way to make San Francisco a pedestrian-first city where people of every age and ability can walk safely. Learn more.
San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets is a group of people who have been directly affected by traffic crashes, including crash survivors and people whose loved ones have been killed or injured in traffic crashes. Learn more.