San Francisco Launches Year-Long Speeding Crackdown
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – San Francisco drivers can expect to see more speed enforcement along key corridors throughout the city following the launch Thursday of a new year-long crackdown effort.
The Safe Speeds SF campaign will focus an additional 132 hours a week of enforcement along streets where city data analysis has found that traffic speeds and injuries and deaths are particularly high.
Around 25 percent of that effort will focus on 12 priority corridors, including Geary Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, 19th Avenue and sections of Leavenworth Street, Howard Street, Turk Street, Pine Street, Bay Street and 16th Street.
The remainder will be spread among 14 other streets that have been identified as secondary enforcement corridors and other streets where speeding is a known issue.
Funded by a $2 million state grant, the enforcement campaign will use LIDAR speed detection units to generate citations to ensure officers are targeting speed and not individuals.
SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin said the goal of the program was to generate awareness and change behaviors, not generate more ticket revenue.
"We don't want people to get tickets, we want people to slow down and obey the speed limit," Reiskin said.
In that spirit, the city is making the map of targeted areas public, although it will not publicize the exact details of weekly enforcement efforts.
The campaign is a joint effort by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, police and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The health department will provide data analysis, both to target enforcement efforts and to evaluate the results of the program, and also help conduct outreach and education in the affected areas.
Reiskin said the city, which usually averages around 30 traffic deaths a year, has already had at least 20 this year.
City data shows that pedestrians and bicyclists make up more than half of traffic deaths, and the highest rates of injuries and fatalities occur in low-income, non-English speaking communities with high densities of seniors, people with disabilities and residents reliant on walking and public transit.
San Francisco adopted a Vision Zero policy in 2014, calling for the elimination of all traffic deaths by 2024. Speed is one of the biggest factors in traffic deaths and injuries, officials said.
© Copyright 2016 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed