{"id":282712,"date":"2026-04-23T22:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282712\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:16:07","slug":"some-santa-ana-leaders-want-to-pilot-cas-speed-camera-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282712\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Santa Ana leaders want to pilot CA\u2019s speed camera program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some Santa Ana leaders want the city to join California\u2019s speed camera program, citing concerns about unsafe drivers.<\/p>\n<p>A 2023 state law allows five cities, like <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/laist.com\/transportation\/la-has-a-plan-for-where-new-speeding-cameras-will-go-up-heres-the-map\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles<\/a>, to pilot cameras that detect speeding drivers and generate citations. Those cameras already are set up in San Francisco and Oakland.<\/p>\n<p>The Santa Ana City Council on Tuesday directed staff to bring back a resolution that if approved, would be sent to Assemblymember Avelino Valencia and state Sen. Tom Umberg, requesting that the law be amended to include Santa Ana.<\/p>\n<p>        Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re enjoying this article, you&#8217;ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.  <\/p>\n<p>Councilmembers Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, Jessie Lopez and David Penaloza stepped out of the chamber before the final direction was decided.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Valerie Amezcua and Councilmembers Phil Bacerra, Thai Viet Phan and Benjamin Vazquez supported directing staff to look into the ask.<\/p>\n<p>How did we get here?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday\u2019s discussion was introduced by Bacerra, who said Segerstrom Avenue in his district is especially unsafe due to speeding drivers.<\/p>\n<p>Bacerra pointed to a <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.santa-ana.org\/multiple-fatality-traffic-collision-single-vehicle-vs-tree\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-cms-ai=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">deadly car <\/a>crash on Segerstrom Avenue that killed five young people last year. The speeding car drove into a tree, ejecting three passengers and severely injuring others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPosting police officers at problem spots in the city is not feasible,\u201d Bacerra said. \u201cI don&#8217;t think you&#8217;re going to get speed humps allowed per state standards, on Segerstrom, on Fairview, on Bristol, on any other arterial where we&#8217;re seeing high speeds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How would it work?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If Santa Ana were included in the pilot program under the state law, the city would have to launch a public information campaign. For the first 60 days of the cameras being installed, speeding drivers receive a warning.<\/p>\n<p>But after that grace period is over, drivers will start receiving citations.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Rodriguez, Santa Ana Police dhief, said the citation would either be issued through departments such as public works or transportation agencies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[It] has nothing to do with PD,\u201d Rodriguez explained.<\/p>\n<p>What are some concerns?<\/p>\n<p>Phan, who represents Ward 1, said if these cameras and the associated work are expected to cost the city in the million-dollar range, she would not be supportive of moving forward with the request to state officials.<\/p>\n<p>Santa Ana is looking at a $19 million budget deficit this year. The city is also bracing for a special voter-approved sales tax to sunset in 2029 and could miss out on about $30 million in revenue when the tax rate goes down, before completely going away in 2039.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not particularly curious about sending staff and our lobbyists to go work with these state legislators to pass a bill that we&#8217;re not going to implement because it&#8217;s going to cost a million dollars,\u201d Phan said. \u201cIt&#8217;s like we&#8217;re trying to make promises to the community that we&#8217;re not going to be able to do because we&#8217;re looking at a $19 million budget deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That kind of money could be used elsewhere to improve driver and pedestrian safety, Phan added, including the police, code enforcement or public works departments.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s next?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>City staff is expected to bring a drafted resolution, along with a cost analysis of the program, in two weeks. The council will vote on whether to move forward from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some Santa Ana leaders want the city to join California\u2019s speed camera program, citing concerns about unsafe drivers.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-282712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}