If you’ve been cruising through San Francisco lately, you might want to ease off the gas. The city’s new speed cameras are snapping away, issuing about 1,000 warnings daily—and in a few weeks, they’ll mail out tickets instead. It seems the era of automated enforcement has truly arrived.

Speed cameras flood SF streets with warnings

In April, San Francisco’s new speed cameras issued approximately 31,000 warnings, averaging 1,000 per day, even though only 22 of the planned 33 cameras were operational. The majority of violations occurred on Fulton Street between Arguello Boulevard and Second Avenue, accounting for 44% of the average daily violations. Geary Boulevard between Webster and Buchanan streets claimed the second highest number of violations. One driver there sped to 65 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Most violations happened between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., with Tuesdays seeing the most speeding drivers. The cameras are part of a five-year pilot program authorized by the legislature in 2023, designed to issue warnings for the first 60 days after installation before transitioning to fines of up to $500 for drivers exceeding the speed limit by at least 11 mph.

The system may seem extreme. But 2024 was the deadliest year of traffic fatalities in a decade. Lawmakers and many citizens agree that something must be done.

Balancing safety and fairness

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) emphasizes, “The goal of this program is not to issue citations — it’s to change driving behavior and educate the public on the dangers of excessive speed.” However, some argue that the automated nature of speed cameras lacks the discretion of human officers. A human might recognize when drivers are simply trying to get to work on time and have plenty of stopping distance on a mostly-empty street. A camera can’t tell. This concern has led places like Virginia to reconsider their speed camera programs.

In Virginia, House Transportation Committee Chair Karrie Delaney worries “profit policing” threatens “public trust for the program.” She justified House Bill 2041 restricting police speed cameras, stating, “We are putting in place the guardrails that are necessary to ensure that this is not a profit policing program and that there is no incentive to use these cameras to drive up revenue for localities.”

Bill author Holly Seibold added, “We’re really trying to get the change in behavior, change in driving habits versus making any money off of these cameras.” Virginia is pioneering policies such as newly-installed cameras can only be used to mail warnings for their first 30 days. A policy that San Francisco adopted too.

The SFMTA plans to have all its cameras running by June, and will be issuing citations by August. It pledged to reinvest any revenue generated into safety improvements on city streets.

San Francisco’s new speed cameras are already making their presence felt, even before all are fully operational. With thousands of warnings issued, the city is sending a clear message: slow down. As the program expands, drivers should expect increased enforcement and, hopefully, safer streets.