Traffic deaths doubled in San Jose from 29 in 2012 to 65 in 2022. The primary goal of these cameras is not revenue, but safety. All revenue from citations is required to be used for traffic calming measures.
The estimated cost of the equipment is $7 million, with an additional $3.6 million for data collection, public engagement, and racial equity analysis. That last item is specifically to avoid having these cameras only target specific ethnic communities or low-income neighborhoods.
Potential locations will be provided to the San Jose City Council this fall and the system is expected to go live by the end of 2025.
Source: San Jose Inside
Source: San Jose Inside
Unfortunately, traffic deaths in San Jose do seem to be trending slightly upwards but comparing 2012 to 2022 is misleading, possibly deliberately so. For example, traffic deaths were 60 in 2015 and just 49 last year. Why not show a graph of traffic deaths by year for the last 20 years?
ReplyDeleteI do not object to the speed cameras but I do object to shameless misrepresentation of data. Comparing 2012 to 2022 gives the false impression that traffic deaths are doubling every ten years. For example, there were 60 traffic deaths in 2015 but only 49 traffic deaths in 2023. Does that mean traffic deaths are trending down? Unfortunately no but it does illustrate how comparing two arbitrary years is a poor way to make a statistical argument.
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