Speed Cameras and Your California Injury Claim

A driver came through a 25 mph street in San Francisco or Oakland far too fast and hit you, and there was a speed camera on the block. It feels like the case is already made. The machine saw it, the city has the file, somebody just has to go get it.

That is not how California's speed camera law works. Here is what those cameras record, who the notice goes to, how fast the images are destroyed, and what evidence does the job instead.

The Bay Area cameras are a narrow pilot

Vehicle Code § 22425 authorizes speed safety systems in exactly six places. The statute defines a "designated jurisdiction" as "any of the Cities of Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, or Long Beach, or the City and County of San Francisco." Everywhere else in California there is no speed safety camera to ask about, whatever other cameras a city runs.

Where they run, they run at scale. SFMTA launched 33 cameras on March 20, 2025, had all of them issuing warnings by June 6, 2025, and began issuing citations on August 5, 2025. Oakland put cameras at 18 locations, ran a warning period from January 14 to March 14, 2026, and started citing drivers on March 15, 2026.

They also work. SFMTA reported in May 2026 that the share of drivers traveling 10 mph or more over the posted limit at camera locations fell from 11 percent to 2 percent. Oakland reported an average 70 percent drop in cars traveling 11 mph or more over the limit against a 2024 baseline, about 20,000 fewer speeding cars a day.

Two details matter for your claim. A camera only captures a vehicle traveling 11 mph or more over the posted limit, and signs reading "Photo Enforced" must be posted no more than 500 feet before the system.

The notice is a bill to the car, not a finding about the driver

Under § 22426(a), a speed camera violation "shall be subject only to a civil penalty." It does not put a point on anyone's record, and it does not result in the DMV suspending or revoking a license. The penalties are $50 for 11 to 15 mph over, $100 for 16 to 25 over, $200 for 26 or more over, and $500 for 100 mph or more.

Section 22426(e) says the notice "shall be in writing and issued to the registered owner of the vehicle within 15 calendar days of the date of the violation." The registered owner can file an affidavit of nonliability. If the car was rented or leased, the agency mails the notice to the renter or lessee instead. If a police report shows the car was stolen at the time, the owner is not liable at all.

Read that again from the perspective of an injury claim. The notice is addressed to whoever the DMV says owns the car. It does not establish who was driving, and in a real crash that is often the entire fight: the company van, the roommate, the adult child.

The footage you are picturing does not exist

People picture a camera watching the intersection continuously. The statute is written to prevent that.

• The notice includes "a clear photograph of the license plate and rear of the vehicle only," and must exclude images of the rear window area.
• The system "shall not capture identifying images of other drivers, vehicles, or pedestrians."
• Facial recognition in conjunction with a speed safety system is prohibited.

So there is no video of the impact, no image of your car, no image of you in the crosswalk, and no picture of the other driver's face. There is a rear license plate, a speed, and a timestamp.

Then it goes away. Photographic evidence that does not result in a notice of violation must be destroyed within five business days. Records connected to a violation may be retained up to 60 days after final disposition, and a city is free to adopt a shorter period.

Access is locked down too. Notwithstanding the Public Records Act or any other law, the photographic and administrative records are confidential. Information collected to administer the program "shall only be used to administer the program, and shall not be disclosed to any other persons ... except as required by state or federal law, court order, or in response to a subpoena."

A subpoena is a real path, but it runs against a clock measured in days, and it only exists if the driver was going 11 or more over. At 9 mph over, the camera recorded nothing.

Even a real citation is not proof of negligence

Set the cameras aside. Suppose an officer wrote the other driver a speeding ticket and the driver paid it. That still does not decide your case. Vehicle Code § 40834 provides that a judgment of conviction for a Vehicle Code violation "shall not be res judicata or constitute a collateral estoppel of any issue determined therein in any subsequent civil action."

A camera notice is weaker than that. It is not a conviction of anyone. It is a civil penalty assessed against a registered owner who may never have touched the steering wheel.

None of this makes the data useless. A speed, tied to a plate, at a location and time, is worth having if you can get it before it is deleted. It is a supporting fact, not the case.

What actually proves speed after a crash

• The traffic collision report. The responding officer's measurements, statements, and any opinion on cause are the backbone of most speed disputes.
• The other vehicle's event data recorder. Most modern cars store pre-crash speed, throttle, braking, and seatbelt status. Vehicle Code § 9951 says that data may not be retrieved by anyone other than the registered owner unless the owner consents, a court orders it, or a dealer or technician pulls it during service. Once the car is repaired, totaled, or sold, the module goes with it.
• Damage and scene physics. Crush depth, rest positions, and debris fields let a reconstructionist estimate speed without any camera.
• Private video. Storefronts, doorbell cameras, parking garages, transit buses, and other drivers' dashcams. Retention varies by system. Assume the clock is short.
• Witnesses. Get names and phone numbers at the scene. Memory and availability both decay fast.
• Commercial telematics. Delivery vans, rideshare vehicles, and trucks often carry GPS and fleet-monitoring data that is far more detailed than anything a city camera holds.
• A written preservation letter. Sent early to the other driver's insurer, the employer if it was a work vehicle, and any business whose camera faces the street.

Our post on what to do in the first hours after a car accident covers the scene-level version of this list.

What this means in California

• Two years, generally. Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 gives you two years from the date of injury for a personal injury claim.
• Six months if a public entity is involved. A city vehicle, a transit bus, or a dangerous condition of a public road puts you on the Government Claims Act timeline instead. See our post on the six-month government claim deadline.
• Shared fault reduces, it does not erase. California's pure comparative negligence rule means the other driver's speed does not end the argument about your share, and your share reduces what you recover rather than wiping it out.
• Cameras are not statewide. Outside those six jurisdictions there is nothing to subpoena, and speed has to be proven the traditional way.

Practical next steps

Get treated and keep treating. Get the traffic collision report as soon as it is available. If the crash happened on a San Francisco or Oakland street with a posted "Photo Enforced" sign, say so in writing to whoever is handling your claim immediately, because a subpoena for camera records is only useful inside a window that closes in weeks. Meanwhile, chase the evidence that is not on a five-day timer: the other vehicle before it is repaired or sold, storefront and doorbell video on the block, and the names of anyone who stopped. If you want someone to look at whether any of it is still recoverable, a consultation with our firm is free and there is no fee unless there is a recovery.