Oakland Begins Installing Speed Cameras in 18 Locations, With Tickets Coming in March

Speeding drivers in Oakland will soon receive tickets from automated speed cameras in 18 different locations, the city announced Monday.

The city will install the cameras over the next several weeks, with an estimated completion date of mid-January. Per state law, the cameras must issue warnings for 60 days after they come online before they start ticketing.

City leaders hailed the program as a meaningful step to make Oakland streets safer. According to a city-wide crash analysis, there are two traffic-related injuries or deaths in Oakland every week. The data also showed stark racial disparities — Black Oaklanders are four times more likely than their white neighbors to be killed or injured while walking on city streets.

“Too many Oaklanders are being hurt or killed because of dangerous speeding,” Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said in a press release. “This program is a smart, life-saving step forward and brings us closer to streets where everyone can travel safely.”

The installation of the cameras comes more than two years after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 645, which authorized six California cities, including San José, Oakland and San Francisco, to pilot automated speed camera systems for a five-year period. Oakland is now the second city to make good on the law, after speed cameras went online in 33 locations in San Francisco in August.

Oakland’s cameras will be installed along the city’s High Injury Network — the 8% of city streets that account for 60% of severe and fatal collisions. Oakland has recorded 23 traffic deaths in the city so far this year, a majority of which occurred on high-injury corridors. Traffic deaths have trended downward since 2022, when traffic collisions killed 36 people on city streets.

The report also said speeding is one of the most common causes of severe and fatal crashes in the city.

“Saving lives is our top priority, and managing vehicle speed is one of the most effective strategies we have to prevent these tragic fatalities,” said Josh Rowan, Director of the Oakland Department of Transportation.

A 2017 study from the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that automated speed enforcement is “an effective countermeasure to reduce speeding-related crashes, fatalities, and injuries.” However, the study acknowledges some limitations: automated speed enforcement does not stop a driver from speeding at the time of the offense, and leaves a driver free to continue speeding, as opposed to a traditional traffic stop by a police officer.

San Francisco has reported promising results since automated speed cameras went online there in August. In the first four months of the cameras issuing fines or warnings, the city reported a major decrease in speeding at speed camera locations. A San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency study tracking speeds along 15 of the corridors where the cameras have been installed found an average of 72% reduction in speeding. SFMTA recorded 260,142 warnings and citations sent to drivers over the summer.

As in San Francisco, drivers caught speeding by a camera in Oakland can expect to pay:

• A $50 fee for going 11–15 mph over the posted speed limit;
• $100 for going 16–25 mph over;
• $200 for going 26 mph or more over the speed limit.
• Additionally, any driver traveling more than 100 mph on city streets can expect a $500 ticket from the cameras.

Oakland also plans to offer a 50%–80% fine reduction for drivers who are unable to pay their tickets.

The remaining four cities authorized to implement speed cameras by AB 645 have trailed behind Oakland and San Francisco. While San José launched four new red-light cameras this fall, the city has proposed locations for automated speed cameras, and then stalled its plans to install them in 2025.