San Jose One of Three Bay Area Cities That Could Be Part of Speed Camera Pilot Program
SAN JOSE (KPIX) -- State legislators in California are once again considering a plan that would attempt to slow down drivers with speed cameras on city streets, including the Bay Area's three largest cities.
The bill now being considered in Sacramento would allow pilot programs to launch in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland, as well Los Angeles and two other yet-to-be-chosen cities in California.
"We know that speed factor in about 30% of our track of fatalities," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo "Reducing speed can really help."
Citing San Jose's recent wave of traffic fatalities, Mayor Liccardo will address the Assembly Transportation Committee Monday evening to say it is time for speed cameras. A.B. 2336 would allow speed cameras in six cities, under specific circumstances.
In San Jose, they would likely be deployed on one of the 17 streets that accounts for nearly half of the city's deadly accidents.
"We are obviously deployment police officers," Liccardo said. "We have hired hundreds of officers in just the last couple of years. But we need other tools. Technology technology like automated speed enforcement is used in 14 states throughout the country. We critically need it here in California."
Studies have shown the cameras do reduce speeds and increase safety, but they are not allowed under current state law. In recent years, several efforts to change that have been defeated, so supporters are back with a new bill.
"We think this is a really thoughtful, well-crafted bill," said Jodie Medeiros of Walk SF. "It addresses a lot of the issues that folks in the past have had concerns about, particularly around equity."
Walk SF is one of the pedestrian advocate groups supporting the bill. She says the new plan allows for community input on where the cameras go, and alternatives for fines for those who might struggle to pay.
"It is our lower income, our lower income communities that are being most impacted by traffic violence," Medeiros said. "So we don't want to make it that a bill is crippling with a ticket, we're also making sure that the people in their community stay safe. And lives aren't being devastated by traffic violence."
If approved, the cameras would be installed for a five-year period and revenue from tickets could only be used for traffic calming measures.