2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
DRAFT
Summary of Legislative Proposal
Sponsor: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA)
Amend theCalifornia State Vehicle Code to Authorize City and County of San Francisco to issue citations based on photo-evidence of transit-only lane parking and street sweeping parking violations.
This legislation would authorize the City and County of San Francisco to issue parking tickets based on photographs from forward facing cameras on transit vehicles and street sweepers that can take a picture of an illegally parked car’s license plate. This proposal is aimed at 1) improving the reliability and performance of Muni vehicles using San Francisco’s 14.8 miles of transit-only lanes, and 2) leveraging automated enforcement to increase available enforcement resources for other critical enforcement duties.
Camera-enforced citations would be used to deter drivers from parking in the designated lanes, a violation which can significantly increase the time it takes to make even a short bus journey, as well as inconveniencing other road users. Only by reducing the amount of illegal traffic in San Francisco ’s transit-only lanes can Muni service improve sufficiently to meet on-time performance goals and encourage people to leave cars at home and take transit. Any citation revenue generated would be used to further transit system improvements and performance.
In the case of street sweepers, parking control officers (PCOs) currently patrol ahead of street sweeper vehicles, ticketing vehicles parked illegally in designated zones. While assigned to this duty, approximately 51 PCOs are unavailable for enforcement of other violations that impede the efficiency of the multi-modal transit system and jeopardize public safety. Clean streets are important, but this parking violation has more resources dedicated to it while transit-critical violations are under-enforced. Camera-enabled street sweepers that automatically ticket street sweeping violations would free up valuable PCO resources for higher-priority parking violations and enforcement demands.
The precedent for camera-enabled enforcement already exists in San Francisco. Since 1996, red light cameras have provided automated enforcement of numerous San Francisco intersections. Photographs issued to red-light runners are reviewed by law enforcement before tickets are issued. This same review procedure would be utilized for automated transit-only lane and street sweeper violations.
