Derek Wiseth has lived by the bottom of an incline onFulton Streetfor decades and while he cherishes the proximity to Golden Gate Park, the location has had its adverse effects — like the time he woke up to find a car had blown past Arguello Boulevard to launch off a parked vehicle and gotten lodged in a treetop. “People have always sped,” Wiseth told SFGATE on Monday.

Since the intersection of Fulton and Arguello isprone to reckless driver behavior, the site was one of 33 locations that San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency chose to install speed cameras at last year. The intersection then recorded the highest number of speeding violations — almost half of the average daily total violations — but that’s starting to drastically change.

SFMTA released itslatest batch of datafrom the cameras to the public May 1 and its leaders were delighted by the results. “The new data shows that cameras have been very effective in getting people to change their behavior and slow down in the corridors where we’ve installed them,” Julie Kirschbaum, SFMTA’s director of transportation, said during a board of directors meeting on Tuesday.

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A speed camera on the corner of Fulton Street and Second Avenue near Arguello Boulevard in San Francisco on May 4, 2026.

Before the cameras started issuing warnings and fines, the agency said it logged over 45,500 counts of speeding across the 33 locations. That’s been cut down to under 6,000 — a nearly 80% decrease in the number of vehicles speeding 10 mph or more.

“I honestly think this has helped,” Wiseth said, speaking from the sidewalk beneath a jet-black automated camera that’s pointed at Fulton day and night. “It’s a little calmer and I’m glad they did it.”

California Assembly Bill 645, passed in 2023,permitted the city to pilot the programand install 56 cameras across 33 locations, the maximum allowed under the law. Since the initial response from the cameras has shown such a dramatic decrease in speeding, advocates and Supervisor Matt Dorsey are moving fast with hopes of expanding onto more streets across the city.

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Meanwhile, other California municipalities are following San Francisco’s lead.Almost 20 camerasappeared in Oakland earlier this year and San Jose has beenpreparing for a pilot program. At the end of April,Los Angeles started rolling outa planned 125 automated speed cameras.

Source: Drudge Report