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SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - San Francisco Police and the SFMTA have launched a citywide, yearlong crackdown on drivers who speed through the city.
The SFMTA analyzed speed and traffic collision data and identified 26 high-priority corridors where extra speed enforcement teams will be stationed at random hours. The 12 highest risk areas include busy roads such as Market Street, Geary Boulevard, and 19th Avenue. The 14 second priority roads include areas such as the Broadway tunnel, Lincoln and Fulton Streets on the perimeter of Golden Gate Park.
Cars speeding through the afternoon commute Friday faced a team of San Francisco police traffic enforcement officers armed with new laser devices.
Sgt. Harrell, San Francisco Police
"We pulled a gentleman over this afternoon who was doing 50 miles per hour on this street on a 25 mile per hour zone," said Sgt. Frank Harrell.
Sgt. Harrell and his team showed us the new LIDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging instruments which use lasers instead of radar to record an oncoming vehicle's speed.
The laser can target a specific vehicle with greater accuracy than radar, because it bounces light off the vehicle's license plate or metal hood.
"Inside here there's a light, I can see where it shows me the speed and the distance from the vehicle," said Officer Robert Vernengo.
San Francisco police received 32 new devices this week, which are even more lightweight and shaped like a pair of binoculars. Funding comes from a $2 million federal grant, which will also be used to fund extra staffing for the citywide crackdown.
"The officers that are working these details, this will be on top of their regular shifts. So these will be additional officers, additional patrols to the tune of 130-132 hours," said Sgt. Michael Andraychak.
The 132 extra traffic enforcement hours per week will continue for an entire year. It is part of the city's "Vision Zero" effort to eliminate pedestrian fatalities after 24 pedestrians were killed in 2015.
"It's not about writing tickets, it's about correcting behavior, getting them to realize the problem and slowing down," said Sgt. Andraychak.
When the Safe Speed crackdown ends in the fall of 2017, the SFMTA will analyze the data to determine whether the extra enforcement had any impact in reducing speed and pedestrian collisions.
SFMTA SPEED ENFORCEMENT MAP: https://www.sfmta.com/about-sfmta/blog/new-speed-enforcement-campaign-will-be-driven-growing-data