Our teams have been working to make streets safer for families ahead of the school year!
On Friday, Aug. 14, we joined Mayor Daniel Lurie and partner agencies to recognize the city’s many efforts to improve safety at schools.
Together, we unveiled a new sign to lower speed limits by Flynn Elementary. It’s part of our work at the SFMTA to reduce speeds at schools across the city. This is possible thanks to a new state law, AB382.
Learn more about the ways we’re making streets safer for children and families with:
Lowering speed limits at schools
We’re acting fast on a new state law that helps lower speeds at schools.
We’re moving quickly to help communities see the benefits of a new state law, AB382. Our teams are working to:
- Set a new 20 mph default school speed limit
- Expand 15 mph and 20 mph speed limits in school zones across the city
By 2028, we aim to phase out 25 mph school zone limits at more than 230 public and private schools. The state law requires all California cities to implement these changes by 2031, but we’re implementing them early.
Reducing dangerous speeding with speed safety cameras
Speeding has dropped by as much as 94% where we’ve installed speed safety cameras near schools.
Our Speed Safety Camera Program is also helping to reduce dangerous speeding. We have seen an almost 80% decrease in speeding across the city’s 33 camera locations since we rolled out cameras in March 2025.
These cameras have made an especially big impact near schools. We’ve seen a:
- 94% drop in speeding on Franklin Street near Sherman Elementary
- 92% drop in speeding on 7th street in front of Bessie Carmichael Elementary
- 91% drop in speeding on Cesar Chavez in front of Flynn Elementary
- 86% drop in speeding on 3rd Street near KIPP Bayview Academy
The SFMTA is proud to help San Francisco lead on Automated Speed Safety (ASE) Cameras. We were the first city in California to pilot them, and we’re now sharing our best practices with other cities.
Keeping students safe with dedicated crossing guards
Crossing guards make a difference in their communities. That’s why we’re maintaining school coverage at last year’s levels. Every corner with a crossing guard last school year will have one this year.
Recently, we hosted our annual Crossing Guard Training Day. More than 170 crossing guards gathered for city training and their official gear. Starting today, they’ll be supporting schools in every district of the city!
Making fast, effective safety upgrades with Quick Builds
We’re also making school streets safer through our Quick-Build projects. With these cost-effective safety upgrades, we can help make an immediate difference on city streets.
Our work at the new Mission Bay Elementary School is a great example. To prepare for the school year at this new campus, we introduced:
- Traffic calming and speed humps
- Safe-hit posts protecting a bike lane
- High-visibility crosswalks and lower speeds
Work like this and our separated bikeway on Winston Drive give students and families more safe and easy options to get to school.
Supporting students and families year-round
School safety is always top of mind for us. We've worked throughout the year to improve visibility at 2,300 intersections near schools through our Daylightling Program. And we run events that help students walk, bike, roll and take transit to school.
To all the families heading back to school, we want to make sure you know about the:
- Muni service changes starting Aug. 29 – including several that benefit students
Our teams wish you a safe and happy school year!