Santa Ana moves closer to testing speed cameras in racing hotspots

The Santa Ana City Council voted Tuesday to ask California leaders to include the city in the state’s speed camera pilot program in an effort to scale up enforcement.

A 2023 state law allows some cities, such as Los Angeles, to pilot programs using cameras that detect speeding drivers and issue citations. San Francisco and Oakland have already set up those cameras and have reported seeing more than a 70% reduction in speeding at the camera spots.

The item was introduced in April by Councilmember Phil Bacerra, who said Segerstrom Avenue in his district is especially unsafe due to speeding drivers.

“The city of Santa Ana experienced 3,487 total collisions in 2025, including 1,943 injured, and 26 fatalities, with unsafe speed determined to be the main factor in many of those collisions,” Bacerra said. “It is impossible to deploy police officers to all of the racing hotspots in our city every single night.”

What are some of the concerns? 

Because this is a pilot program, Hernandez said he doesn’t want Santa Ana to be a guinea pig.

“This is very much still a test, which means that the guardrails will be identified on all of us here,” Hernandez said. “I’m happy to see this item come back to us when there’s more data equipped for us to consider. I don’t want each of you … to be the data that we analyze on whether this policy fits for us.”

The data from the speed cameras would be overseen by the city’s public works department, not police. But Vazquez said he's worried about adding surveillance to the city no matter which department is in charge.

“The federal government has ways,” Vazquez said. “We’ve seen studies, not only in California, but across the country, of people being tracked down by camera use. I don’t believe right now is the right time.”

The resolution passed 4-2, with City Council members Johnathan Ryan Hernandez and Benjamin Vazquez dissenting. Councilmember Jessie Lopez was absent.

How much will this cost the city? 

Based on the program costs for other cities, officials estimated that a 12-camera program would have a start-up cost of $2 million and annual operating costs between $1.5 million and $2 million.

Mayor Valerie Amezcua said requesting funds from state and congressional representatives is an option.

“It’s not written in stone; it’s not forever, so if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work,” Amezcua said.

Councilmember Thai Viet Phan said the city needs to balance what the budget can bear.

“I don’t want to make promises up here that we can’t keep,” Phan said. “And what we do know is that this pilot program … (is) incredibly expensive.”

The costs associated with the speed camera pilot program vary among participating California cities.

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Courtesy of the City of Santa Ana

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How would it work? 

If Santa Ana were included in the pilot program under the state law, the city would have to launch a public information campaign. For the first 60 days of the cameras being installed, speeding drivers would receive a warning. After that grace period, drivers would start receiving citations.