Oakland’s automated speed enforcement cameras have been active since January, spotting speeding cars and sending their registered owners warning letters.
But on Sunday, there won’t be any more warnings — owners will start getting tickets in the mail if their cars are spotted going 11 miles per hour or faster than the speed limit.
Today, the city released speed camera data from Jan. 14 through Feb. 21— part of the warning period — revealing which streets saw the worst levels of speeding.
Of the 18 locations where 35 cameras have been deployed, the areas with the highest number of speeding vehicles were:
Broadway, between 27th and 28th Streets, with 21,001 warnings issued for vehicles using both the southbound and northbound lanes.
73rd Avenue, between Fresno Street and Krause Avenue, with a total of 17,801 warnings, or 457 per day. The southbound lanes of this road saw the highest number of average speeders per day, 320.
Hegenberger Road, between Spencer Street and Hawley Street, with 15,616 warnings, or 400 per day.
The location where cameras clocked the highest average speeds in both directions was Foothill Boulevard between 19th and 20th Avenues, where hundreds of drivers exceeded the 25-mile-per-hour speed limit by 19 mph.
The city sent 140,000 warning letters in the first five weeks of the program for 74,000 unique license plates, the report says. Each plate corresponds to a different vehicle. Of 74,000 vehicles, 47,500 received only one warning, possibly a sign that some drivers learned their lesson and are now driving more slowly.
Overall, about 1.5% of all drivers who passed locations with speed cameras received warnings, or roughly 3,600 per day.
The times that saw the most warnings were during work transit times, between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Wednesday through Friday.
“The high volume of warnings also underscores the dire need for drivers to slow down and go the speed limit,” said Josh Rowan, Oakland’s transportation director.
The speed cameras scan the license plates of the offending driver’s vehicle and send the tickets to the owner, who can choose to pay the amount or seek a reduction through a low-income program or a payment plan.
“With this program, we are strengthening our commitment in keeping everyone safe whether you walk, bike, take public transit or drive in Oakland,” said Mayor Barbara Lee in a statement.
Oakland street safety advocates weigh in on the data
Robert Prinz, director of Bike East Bay, wrote in a social media post that speeding on 73rd Avenue is happening in a school zone where the city has a plan for a median bike path, “but without any fundamental traffic calming for the car travel lanes.”
73rd Avenue is connected to the Hegenberger overpass, which encourages people to drive downhill into local streets, where they usually don’t slow down, Prinz wrote.
Warren Wells, another bike advocate, wrote on social media that San Francisco’s speed camera program saw a 75% decrease in speeding tickets two months after cameras were installed on certain roads.
“Now, SF has gone from 12k warnings/day at the start of the program to just 600 tickets/day. A 95% drop in illegal speeding!” he said.
Whether the same thing will happen in Oakland is anyone’s guess.
If you’ve been warned or ticketed by the new speed cameras, please email us with your story at jose@oaklandside.org.
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