Speed is the single biggest factor in determining the severity of a car crash, and yet California has resisted the most obvious tool to slow down traffic: speed-enforcement cameras. Still, the state has learned a few lessons over the years from experiments with red-light cameras, and there’s now a bill in Sacramento that could deploy similar technology to lifesaving effect.
Without speed cameras, cities face an untenable choice: Let drivers flout traffic laws and allow vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists to die, or increase enforcement by police — which fuels conflict and casualties. If anything, California is moving toward reducing traffic stops, which can be a pretext for harassing Black and Latino drivers.
The new legislation, introduced by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), would legalize speed cameras for pilot programs in Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, Long Beach and San Francisco, providing a way to step up enforcement of speed laws without police confrontation or human bias.