Automated Speed-Control Cameras Measure Advances to Governor
Bill Enables Pilot Program for San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco
A bill that for the first time in California history would authorize speed cameras on roadways in six selected cities including San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco passed both houses in Sacramento last week and is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk awaiting his signature.
Assembly Bill 645, by principal author Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, represents the eighth attempt to bring speed cameras to California since 2005 and the first to make it all the way to the desk of the governor. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Oct. 14 to sign the bill into law or veto it. The bill has the support of Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, the City of San Jose and many other entities.
“Big update! AB 645 just passed out of the State Senate 29-6. Senator Wahab was a YES vote and Senate Cortese was an abstention, so virtually no opposition from our San Jose delegation,” said David Hai Tran, Legislative & Policy Lead for the City of San Jose’s Department of Transportation, in relaying word of the legislative approval.
“We need new tools in our toolbox to stop traffic violence and the senseless loss of human life,” Friedman said in a statement. “I am confident the governor will sign AB 645 into law.”
While there’s no word from the governor’s office about which way he’s leaning, Friedman said many of the provisions in her bill are included in a report from the California State Transportation Agency’s “Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force.”
That report found that studies show roadway systems that try to slow down drivers “are an effective countermeasure to speeding” if they use cameras that automatically snap a picture of the car’s license plate and deliver a citation to the registered owner through the mail.
If signed, sending citations to speeding motorists without the presence of law enforcement would become legal in California for the first time. But the bill is a pilot, meaning only these six cities would get authorization: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.