Could speed cameras save lives on SJ streets? This program proposal hopes it can

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — After other programs have failed to make it through the state government in the past, San Jose hopes a speed camera pilot program can pass and help save lives.

Assembly Bill 645 would allow San Jose to install speed camera systems in school zones, priority safety corridors and areas with a history of street racing or sideshows with the goal to save lives.

On Dia de las Madres, San Jose’s Maria Hernandez won’t be able to celebrate her mother Maria Marcelo.

Five months ago, the community activist’s life was taken in a deadly car crash. Now, her daughter is calling for safer city streets.

When we see things that are repetitive like this,” Hernandez said. “When it’s not just one fatality, when it’s multiple on that same street – if that’s not screaming for a change, I don’t know what is.”

On Wednesday, Mayor Matt Mahan and city leaders voiced their support for what they say is a step towards that change.

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Assembly Bill 645 would allow six California cities including San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose to install speed cameras as part of a pilot program running until 2032 to help slow drivers down.

Thirty-one percent of traffic deaths cite speed as a factor according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

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Thirty-three percent of deaths in San Jose were linked to speeding according to Mayor Mahan and cameras have proven to help.

“These speed safety cameras have been shown in studies across the country and, frankly, around the world, they are deployed in over 150 communities around the United States,” Mahan said. “They have been shown to reduce by over 50% on average, 54% to be exact.”

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If approved, the cameras would snap a picture of cars’ back license plate and send set fines of $50, $100, $200 or $500 to drivers breaking the speed limit by 11 miles per hour and up.

In the interest of privacy, the picture would be kept for 5 days if no ticket was issued and up to 60 days if a violation occurred.

But Tracy Rosenberg with Oakland Privacy still has concerns.

“When the location of a car is recorded over, and over and over again over the course of a day, it is sort of like having somebody tailing your car,” Rosenberg said. “It’s not just one location at one moment in time. It’s really the pattern of your movements all around the city.”

Rosenberg would like to see investments in other speed slowing measures and not in a camera program that’s proving to be unpopular in other states.

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But the city believes this can be a part of the enforcement, engineering and education in San Jose that helps save lives.

“We are all here today to find solutions to keep our community safe and this technology is one of those types of solutions,” San Jose Police Dept. Chief Anthony Mata said.

If passed, the cameras would likely roll out in 2024.

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