State lawmakers and local officials on Wednesday brought forward a proposal that would enable San Francisco and San Jose to test automated technology that tickets speeding drivers.
More than 140 cities across the U.S. currently utilize Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) systems, but California law does not yet permit the technology.
AB 342 would allow San Francisco and San Jose to engage in a five-year pilot program of ASE systems on specific streets where traffic crashes are most likely to occur.
The bill's principal author is Assemblymember David Chiu, who was on the S.F. Board of Supervisors. Chiu unveiled AB 342 during a press conference at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on Wednesday morning.
Chiu said San Francisco has the "highest number of collisions per capita in California, and speed is the leading cause of fatal and serious traffic crashes. Speed kills." Chiu was joined alongside San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and families victimized by traffic accidents.
Lee noted that ASE systems would be one tool among many used to achieve Vision Zero, a policy goal the cities of San Francisco and San Jose have adopted to eliminate all traffic-related deaths by 2024.
San Francisco is redesigning streets to encourage drivers to reduce their speeds, and implementing an education program about the consequences of speeding. Besides loss of life, there also could be an economic incentive: Lee said it costs San Francisco $35 million a year to respond to car crashes.
Chiu said ASE systems installed in places like Denver and Portland, Ore., have reduced incidents by 30 percent or more.
Still, some privacy advocates are critical of ASE systems, noting that drivers can be caught unaware that a camera is tracking them and recording their license plate number. Some cameras are in a fixed position; some jurisdictions have mounted them in vans that can be moved along a roadside.
Liccardo conceded Wednesday that there are "powerful forces aligned against" AB 342.
The legislation would stipulate that fixed or mobile ASE systems used in the pilot be clearly marked with signs, and speeding tickets recorded by an ASE system would be capped at a maximum penalty of $100.
