San José City Council Approves Key Documents to Launch Speed Safety Camera Pilot Program
Unanimous vote ensures compliance with AB 645, setting standards for speed camera use, data collection, and civil liberties protections in San José
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2024
Media Contact:
Tasha Dean, Chief Communications Officer, Office of Mayor Matt Mahan; [email protected]
SAN JOSÉ, CA - Today, the San José City Council took another step to create safer roadways by unanimously approving a use policy and impact report, as mandated by Assembly Bill (AB) 645, and delegating authority to the City Manager for awarding a contract, allowing installation of Speed Safety Cameras to begin in Spring 2025. This is six to eight weeks earlier than the original timeline for implementation.
"Speed safety cameras have been used effectively worldwide for years, and today we’re one step closer to bringing them to our streets. But we need to be moving much faster toward implementation like lives depend on it — because they do," said San José Mayor Matt Mahan. "I commend our Department of Transportation for laying the groundwork to make our pilot program a model for future deployment across the state and I’m looking forward to seeing them continue to remove roadblocks and reduce our implementation timeline in the months ahead.”
Passed in October 2023, AB 645 authorizes a pilot program for installing speed safety cameras in select cities. The guidelines approved today aim to create uniformity across the six pilot cities — San José, Los Angeles, Oakland, Glendale, Long Beach, and San Francisco — enabling a clear, comparative analysis at the pilot's end to help shape the future of speed cameras in California.
Under this legislation, San José is permitted to install up to 33 cameras, each operational for a maximum of five years, as the program must sunset by January 1, 2032. The speed cameras are designed to enhance traffic safety by automatically detecting and citing speeding vehicles, thereby promoting safer driving and protecting city roadway users. Studies support their effectiveness: according to the Federal Highway Administration, speed cameras can reduce crashes on urban streets by 54% and reduce speeding in school zones by 63%. In New York City, intersections with speed cameras saw a 73% reduction in speeding as of December 2021. Locally, speeding contributed to 33% of San José’s traffic fatalities from 2018 to 2022.
"After months of research and analysis, community outreach, and a successful grant application, we're very excited to take this next step toward getting speed safety cameras installed on the streets that need them," said John Ristow, Director of Transportation. "With our Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities, we need every tool available to reduce the top cause of deadly crashes — speeding."
San José Department of Transportation (DOT) staff organized two stakeholder workshops and collaborated with 21 community-based organizations to gather feedback on the proposed implementation strategy. These discussions covered potential camera locations, equity considerations, and digital privacy. The City plans to focus installation along Priority Safety Corridors — areas with high rates of fatal and severe injury crashes, where approximately 30% of such incidents involve speeding. Currently, 63 potential locations have been identified, providing flexibility to address any unforeseen challenges during implementation.
To promote equity, over half of these locations are in historically underserved neighborhoods that most urgently need traffic safety interventions. Privacy protections will also be a priority; procedures will safeguard vehicle owners’ names and addresses, obtained from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). City staff will follow the City’s Digital Privacy Policy, Manual, and Principles to ensure rigorous privacy standards when managing information collected by speed cameras.
With the Speed Safety System Use Policy and Pilot Program Impact Report now approved by the Council, DOT staff can initiate the procurement process.
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About the City of San José
With nearly one million residents, San José is the largest city in the Bay Area and one of the nation's most diverse and creative. San José’s transformation into a global innovation center in the heart of Silicon Valley has resulted in the world's greatest concentration of technology talent and development.