Oakland speed cameras: 82,000 fines in 40 days

Oakland’s speed safety camera program began issuing speeding tickets on March 15. Cameras that went live in January at 18 locations produced warnings until March 14, when second-time offenders began receiving citations. First-time offenders continued to receive warnings due to state requirements. From March 15 to April 25, the city issued 82,000 citations and 69,000 warnings, averaging about 60 citations and 50 warnings per camera per day. The city installed cameras on Oakland’s High-Injury Network, where severe collisions are concentrated. The highest speeding locations during ticketing matched the busiest locations during the earlier warning period. Revenue estimates were not provided, but minimum fines could total about $4 million, with discounts potentially reducing amounts.

"Oakland's new speeding camera program began ticketing on March 15, and the cameras have resulted in more than 2,000 speeding tickets a day. According to a May 7 presentation at Oakland's City Hall by Craig Raphael, the Oakland Department of Transportation's speed safety camera program manager, for the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the speeding cameras that went live in January at 18 locations in Oakland are giving out lots of tickets."

"From January 15 to March 14, the 35 cameras - a pair at most locations - only resulted in warnings. But since March 15, Oakland has issued any second-time offender a speeding ticket. (First-time offenders will continue to receive warnings, as required by the state law that sanctioned the pilot program.) Raphael said the city gave out 82,000 citations and 69,000 warnings in the first 40 days of enforcement - from March 15 to April 25 - for an average of 60 citations and 50 warnings per camera per day."

"Raphael did not provide revenue numbers. But if each citation was for the minimum $50 fine, the tickets could generate $4 million in revenue. That number would shrink if many of those fines get reduced through the city's low-income and public benefits discounts, bringing those $50 tickets down to $25 or $10 each. All of the cameras were installed on Oakland's High-Injury Network, the streets that account for the majority of the city's severe collisions."

"The top eight speeding locations over the first 40 days of enforcement, Raphael said, were consistent with those that surfaced in the warning period, based on data from January 15 to February 21. The top number of speeding vehicles, were: In first place, a camera facing southbound traffic at 2345 73rd Avenue, with 8,127 citations and 5,500 warnings, on an average ticketed speed of 44"

Read at The Oaklandside