San Francisco speed camera data: More than 16,000 citations in one month; here’s how much revenue that generated

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — After months of warnings and now citations, data confirms speed cameras are making drivers in San Francisco slow down.

ABC7 joined Viktoriya Wise SFMTA’s director of streets at one of the locations they have been closely analyzing for effectiveness. The city has 56 cameras at 33 locations. All of them are active and citing drivers who drive 11 miles an hour above the speed limit.

“Overall, our data shows that there is a 72% reduction, so people are changing their behavior,” said Wise.

SFMTA is reporting in the months of June, July and August, they sent out a combined 260,142 warnings and citations to drivers.

MORE: San Francisco Castro residents celebrate effectiveness of speed cameras at intersections

The agency began to cite drivers in August, and confirmed they gave more than 16,555 citations that month or over 500 citations a day.

“It takes a while to get used to. I know one of my friends got a warning, so he didn’t get a ticket it was just a warning and now he knows better than to speed around here,” said Maria Famy, San Francisco resident.

The nonprofit Walk San Francisco advocated for eight years for this pilot program.

“It is showing these speed cameras are very effective at changing behavior and that is what we want. They are also showing how out of control this behavior is. Half of the tickets that have been given are for people, going more than 15 miles above the speed limit. That is a lot. By the time drivers are going those speed the chance of a crash happening and how severe it can be is off the chart,” said Marta Lindsey, Walk San Francisco.

MORE: Where SF speed cameras are located, how much it will cost you if you’re caught speeding

Right now, the legislation only allows San Francisco to have cameras at 33 locations, but there could be more.

Luz Pena: “What about the locations where you have these cameras? Are you planning to move these cameras to other places?”

Viktoriya Wise: “Not at this time. It’s in the early days and I want to be able to collect more data and we want to make sure that behavior change actually sticks, but after 18 months, we’ll have a deep evaluation of everything that’s happened on the street at these 33 locations, and we will figure out if we want to move the cameras to a different place.”

SFMTA confirmed these cameras are calibrated at least twice a year.

Luz Pena: “How many people are checking that the data collected from these cameras is actually accurate?”

Viktoriya Wise: “Quite a few number of people. Our vendor is checking first when the citation is issued and then SFMTA staff is reviewing that citation just to make sure its accurate.”

Citations range between $50 to $500. According to SFMTA, since August when the agency began to cite drivers, those citations generated more than $600,000. If the fines are paid in full by drivers, it would amount to more than $1.2 million.