# Oakland drivers are slowing down near speed cameras. Could red-light cameras be next? > Source: > Published: 2026-08-20 13:00:10+00:00 **Getting your** [Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...Early city data shows motorists slowing down along some of Oakland’s most dangerous streets, prompting the city’s transportation director to explore whether red-light cameras should return. Oakland Department of Transportation Director Josh Rowan said this week that the reintroduction of red light cameras are “in the pipeline for us to start analyzing,” after preliminary results from [the city’s still-nascent speed camera program](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/03/24/oakland-speed-cameras-no-enforce/) left him “quite ecstatic” about its potential to reduce speeding. The cameras recorded 526,324 instances of vehicles traveling at least 11 mph over the speed limit from Jan. 14 through July 15. Separate city measurements show average speeds at camera locations fell by 3 mph between summer 2024 and summer 2026, though the data does not establish that the cameras alone caused the decline. The city collected that data independently of the camera system using pneumatic roadway tubes that measure vehicle speeds. The largest decline occurred along Hegenberger Road between Spencer and Hawley streets, with 85% of vehicles traveling there driving 10 mph slower from summer 2024 to summer 2026, the city said. By that same measure, speeds decreased by 6 mph along Seventh Street between Adeline and Linden streets, as well as along 73rd Avenue between Fresno Street and Krause Avenue, the city said. Rowan hailed the data and suggested the speed camera program was making roadways safer. “There’s just a greater awareness to pay attention to your speed — and in these locations, that there is a device out there that is checking,” said Rowan, adding that “I hope people don’t get desensitized to them. I hope we’re really just changing behaviors.” Oakland turned on the cameras Jan. 14 at 18 locations where traffic officials had recorded unusually high numbers of crashes. The program began with a two-month trial period that ended March 15, when the city began issuing citations carrying civil penalties for traveling at least 11 mph over the speed limit. The city issued 193,508 citations through July 15, including 33,450 along 73rd Avenue between Fresno Street and Krause Avenue, 25,823 along Broadway between 27th and 28th streets, and 21,928 along Hegenberger Road between Spencer and Hawley streets. Some 58% of citations were issued to vehicle owners with registered addresses outside Oakland, city data shows. Nearly 1,300 unique license plates received more than 10 citations, including 11 that received more than 100, the city said. The city also issued 332,816 warnings from Jan. 14 through July 15. Those included warnings to drivers caught for the first time traveling between 11 and 15 mph over the speed limit. Together, the warnings and citations account for the 526,324 speeding violations recorded by the cameras. On average, drivers issued warnings or citations were caught traveling 14 mph over posted speed limits, the city said. A staffing shortage at the city’s speed-camera vendor, Verra Mobility, disrupted the processing of warnings and citations from mid-May through mid-June, the city said. As a result, few or no violations were processed on several days during that period. Oakland did not release data showing how much money it’s brought in from its citations — a key omission, given that [the city lacks the ability to enforce those penalties in any meaningful way](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/03/24/oakland-speed-cameras-no-enforce/). The civil penalties won’t be elevated to criminal charges, and the Department of Motor Vehicles will not withhold the registration renewals of vehicles caught on the cameras. Given the city’s limited ability to enforce the fines, Rowan acknowledged uncertainty about whether speeds will begin inching back up. “My personal belief is the behavioral change will will fade over time,” Rowan said. “The speed cameras seem to be sort of a near-to-midterm type solution. But ultimately is really pushing us to look more at the the capital projects and the safety side, the permanent changes to the infrastructure that will that will support the slower speed.” Funding more structural changes to the city’s roadways is key, said Justin Hu-Nguyen, co-executive director of mobility justice at Bike East Bay. While “possibly helpful,” he said speed cameras fail to address more systemic reasons that people speed in Oakland — among them, wide and straight streets that are best addressed with speed humps and other capital projects that can more naturally slow motorists down. He said the same concern applies to red-light cameras, a program he remains leery of following the city’s earlier experience with the technology. Oakland last used red-light cameras in 2014. “We want people to feel that the environment is telling them to slow down, rather than the cameras,” Hu-Nguyen said. Rowan, the city transportation director, said he anticipates bringing an informational report on red light cameras to the city council later this year or early next, so that any new initiative could be included in the budget year beginning July 1, 2027. “What we’ve told the administration is: Let us get the speed cameras up and running, and to a point where we’re comfortable with the operations, then we’ll start evaluating the red light cameras,” Rowan said. Rowan stressed that “no decisions have been made,” adding that any discussion about red light cameras needs to happen “in a very public, open way.” *Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.*