San Francisco transportation officials are touting a new report saying the city’s automated speed enforcement cameras are doing their job by slowing speeding drivers.
Last week, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) released an 18-month report examining whether speeds decreased at camera locations, whether drivers who received a violation were caught again by a camera, and whether “egregious speeding” decreased. The SFMTA also checked whether the cameras are meeting the data requirements set in Assembly Bill 645, which authorizes San Francisco to pilot the cameras for five years.
“This is an amazing success,” said SFMTA Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum at the agency’s Tuesday board meeting. “As you know, speeding is the leading cause of severe injuries and fatalities on San Francisco’s streets, and even small reductions can make measurable differences.”
The SFMTA speed data collected before implementing the cameras (winter 2024 through winter 2025). Staff will continue to collect speed data quarterly. As of May 2026, the report said drivers speeding 10 mph or more is down 84 percent across 33 camera locations before implementation.
Near schools, community centers, and senior centers where cameras are installed, the report said “excessive” speeding, driving at least 10 mph or more above the speed limit, is down. At Franklin Street between Union and Green streets near Sherman Elementary School, for example, excessive speeding is down 94 percent.
Drivers receiving the citations from one of the cameras seem to be getting the message. The report said nearly 63 percent of first-time violators did not receive a second warning or citation. The SFMTA initially implemented the cameras with a 60-day warning period. Overall, about 81 percent of drivers received no more than two notices.
The report also said drivers speeding 16 mph or more are down 50 percent overall across camera locations.
SFMTA officials said all 33 camera locations meet at least one of the three metrics required under AB 645. If a camera fails to meet one of the metrics under AB 645, the SFMTA would need to move or deactivate the program (November 2023 through June 2026), costing the SFMTA $4.3 million. The total cost included a $1.3 million annual contract with the vendor, $2.5 million for SFMTA labor, and $300,000 for miscellaneous.
The report said during the program’s first year, from when the cameras began issuing citations in August 2025 through July of this year, the program generated $6.5 million in revenue, leaving the agency with $2.2 million to install street safety measures.
The program’s first year of revenue (August 2025–July 2026) was $6.5 million, resulting in approximately $2.2 million in funding that will be reinvested into traffic calming in San Francisco.
SFMTA Streets Director Viktoriya Wise said last week at a media roundtable that this year’s funding will be used to bring back its residential traffic calming program and flashing beacons.
As far as what’s next for the pilot program, the camera locations will remain where they are located for now, but SFMTA streets planner Thalia Leng, who also leads the program, said the agency, over the next several months, will further review each camera location “to understand if certain locations could be more impactful elsewhere.”
Leng said it would take about six months to relocate a camera, but not before any community outreach.
In July, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution, urging the state to allow San Francisco to add more cameras at more locations. District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey introduced the resolution.
