San Francisco has undertaken a decade-long trend of decreasing traffic enforcement, city data shows.
Police in San Francisco issued around 130,000 traffic citations in 2014, falling to just a few thousand in 2023, according to municipal data analyzed by the San Francisco Chronicle. The decline in traffic enforcement does not appear to be a function of better behavior among drivers in San Francisco, as city data compiled by the University of California Berkeley shows that traffic injuries and deaths have remained roughly constant over the past decade.
Lax enforcement has continued into 2024, with the San Francisco Police Department issuing only roughly 240 traffic citations in January and February. (RELATED: San Francisco Somehow Finds A Way To Make Catching Criminals Even Harder)
San Francisco has effectively stopped issuing citations for certain traffic infractions. The city has issued fewer than 100 tickets per month for stop sign-related violations since June 2021, city data shows. Police issued hundreds of citations per month for stop sign infractions prior to 2021.
The number of citations issued for running red lights also dropped precipitously, according to city data. Twenty-five citations were issued in December 2023 for running red lights, compared to 418 in December 2014.
Speeding enforcement is also down considerably in San Francisco, according to city data. Sixty-one citations were issued in December 2023 for speeding, compared to 435 in December 2014. A speeding driver killed a family of four, including a two-month-old infant, on March 16 in San Francisco, local media reported.
San Francisco has almost completely stopped enforcing traffic laws.
Seems bad for public safety. pic.twitter.com/wCsSsyatbd
— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) April 14, 2024
The number of car accidents resulting in injury or death in San Francisco has remained relatively constant since 2014, suggesting that the drop in traffic enforcement is not the result of fewer instances of unsafe driving behavior. There were 3,727 crashes resulting in death or injury in San Francisco in 2014, compared to 3,181 in 2023, according to data compiled by the University of California Berkeley.
San Francisco adopted Vision Zero, an initiative intended to reduce the number of deaths and severe injuries on its roads to zero, in 2022.
Police Department spokesperson Evan Sernoffsky told the San Francisco Chronicle that a 2015 racial justice law contributed to the decline in traffic citations by making traffic stops longer and more labor-intensive.
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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