SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose is installing 33 speed cameras across the city, aiming to reduce traffic deaths with a five-year pilot program that will issue citations to drivers caught going over the speed limit, city officials announced Friday.

Starting Dec. 14, the cameras will issue warnings to drivers going at least 11 miles per hour over the speed limit for a 60-day period before citations charging a fine will begin, Mayor Matt Mahan said at a news conference surrounded by the family members of people killed by speeding vehicles holding photos of their loved ones.

The fines will start at $50 and range up to $500 depending on how far over the speed limit drivers are going, Mahan added.

“We’re launching these new tools to keep our streets safer … in honor of every loved one lost on our streets because behind every traffic fatality is a family that will never be whole again,” Mahan said. “My hope is we issue as few tickets as possible because that would mean drivers are getting the message and slowing down.”

The initiative was authorized by Assembly Bill 645 – passed in October 2023 – but was delayed after the Trump administration postponed $8.5 million in federal funding that had been earmarked for the pilot “without explanation,” Mahan said. Lacking the promised federal funding, the cameras were installed using city funding.

San Jose is one of six cities across the state testing the pilot program, with other Bay Area participants including San Francisco and Oakland. The law does not permit the violations to be used any purpose other than issuing civil penalties and will not be used to withhold registration with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The 33 cameras span all of the city’s council districts and are “focused on the streets where dangerous speeding puts the most lives at risk,” Mahan added.

Jorge Quiroz, whose five-year-old daughter Aileen was killed after being struck by a car while walking in a crosswalk with her aunt and younger sister in 2013, expressed gratitude and relief at the city’s program – and the hope that it would help prevent other families from experiencing the same loss as his.

“We are a community no one ever imagines being part of,” Quiroz said. “Our lives were torn apart by something that was completely preventable, something that should never happen.”

Quiroz is a founding member of San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets, which advocates for stronger traffic safety protections to help prevent other families from sharing in their pain. Aileen loved playing soccer and watching her father at his soccer training, had a “beautiful” smile and wore ties as part of her outfits for school, her father said.

“Seeing her smile while I coached, those were some of the best moments of my life. Moments I replay in my mind because I can’t have them back,” Quiroz said. “All of that was taken from her and from us because someone was driving too fast. I don’t want what happened to Aileen to ever happen to another child, another parent, another family.”

Speeding is the top contributor to fatal traffic collisions in San Jose, said Vice Mayor Pam Foley.

“Behind each of these numbers is a parent, a child, a sibling, a neighbor, a friend who needlessly lost their lives on our streets due to preventable traffic collisions – preventable because people were speeding, not paying attention, driving recklessly,” Foley said. “These tragedies have lasting impacts on families and our entire community, and we have a responsibility to do everything we can do to prevent them.”

Between 2021 and 2025, collisions involving excessive speed have caused the deaths of 41 people and severe injuries to 265 in San Jose, Mahan said. In San Francisco, areas with speed cameras saw an 84% drop in speeding over an 18-month period. Statistics from the Federal Highway Administration have found that speed cameras reduce collisions on urban streets by 54%, Foley added.

“Slower speed means more reaction time for drivers, better protection for vulnerable roadway users and safer streets for children, older adults and all community members,” Foley said. “With the installation of these speed safety cameras, we’re taking an important step toward our Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries on our streets entirely.”

Clarrissa Cabansagan, executive director of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, added that speed is the primary factor “that determines if someone can survive a crash.”

“This is about human life and the fragility of human life, and that we desperately need our community to understand that speed is what kills,” she said. “These are preventable deaths, and the city of San Jose today is taking one of the biggest steps they can to slow down our cars.”

The cameras are provided by vendor Verra Mobility Solutions, Inc., the city added in a news release.

“Speeding may save a minute,” Mahan said, “but slowing down can save a life.”

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