SF and Oakland Are About To Get Cameras That Automatically Ticket You For Speeding

This may come as a shock to absolutely no one, but San Francisco is an exorbitantly expensive place to live. It’s a place where you can get your car stolen and somehow still have to worry about the sadistic MTA giving your stolen car a parking ticket. It’s a silly place packed with more existential fees than a “free-to-play” iPhone game.

Which is fine. I’m fine with it. Despite all my articles complaining about shit, I’m generally apathetic about the day-to-day operations in America’s most aesthetically beautiful dystopia.

With that said, California is set to implement a groundbreaking change in its traffic safety measures, as Governor Gavin Newsom signed a controversial traffic-safety bill into law. AB645, championed by numerous cities and community groups, paves the way for the legalization of surveillance cameras designed to automatically detect speeding drivers in school zones and designated “safety corridors.” While this move is celebrated for its potential to enhance road safety, it has also faced opposition from privacy advocates.

The bill, authored by Assembly Member Laura Friedman of Glendale, introduces a pilot program that will deploy speed-enforcement cameras in select California cities, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Glendale, and Long Beach. This initiative comes in response to alarming statistics; in 2021, California recorded 4,285 traffic collision-related fatalities, which included 1,233 pedestrians and cyclists. Supporters of speed cameras argue that this technology will safeguard pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, ultimately reducing fatal accidents, particularly in cities like San Francisco, which have witnessed persistently high numbers of traffic-related deaths.

Opponents have voiced concerns about issues of equity and privacy, suggesting that communities of color will bear the brunt of the financial burden through increased ticketing, and that these cameras may collect sensitive personal data vulnerable to theft or misuse.

Over a five-year pilot program, participating cities will have the opportunity to install a limited number of speed cameras at specific locations, including school zones, streets with high traffic fatality rates, and areas prone to illegal racing. These cameras capture an image of the vehicle’s license plate, and drivers must exceed the speed limit by at least 11 miles per hour to receive a ticket.

But here’s the thing. Few may openly admit this, but people like to drive fast.. You know why? Because driving quickly on an open stretch of road is one of the few activities that makes me feel kind of free. I’m not going all libertarian or anything like that, but when you spend your day stuck in traffic or sitting on a bus, it’s nice to listen to music and go fast for the sake of going fast.

Anyone who commutes in the Bay Area knows that the flow of traffic is around 10 miles per hour above the speed limit when there isn’t a traffic jam. It’s just the natural flow of things. I’m conflicted on this because the cameras could be a good thing. Speeding kills. I know that and I understand that deterrence is needed in order to get people to stop. But something about being auto-ticketed at the hands of an A.I. camera makes me deeply uncomfortable.

I also don’t think the people at the extreme fringes of society who are more likely to go 80 MPH in a school zone are likely to be deterred by a robot assigning them a speeding ticket. I think this could devolve into another fee in a place that is already overtaxed with little to show for it.

I’m not trying to beat a dead horse, but we’ve spent significant money on solving homelessness, and it’s gotten worse. I just don’t know if this is the right way to go.

We’ll see. Hopefully it saves lives instead of draining our already over-burdened bank accounts.

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