A brand new visitors legislation in California goals to scale back accidents attributable to working pink lights. Senate Invoice 720 was handed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2025, amending an present visitors legislation — AB 645 — by modifying the penalties for drivers. Stroll San Francisco, a pedestrian security initiative that supported the invoice, states that this new legislation is not going to exchange present pink mild digital camera laws, however will provide another for cities that choose in. Earlier than the brand new legislation, citations required a picture of the offending driver’s face, resulting in some citations being unenforceable when the motive force couldn’t be recognized. This meant a number of the fines — reaching as much as $500 — could not be collected. The earlier laws additionally does not require the income from these violations to go in the direction of road security infrastructure.
SB 720 will change that in a number of methods. It’ll cap first-time violations at $100, ticket and cite the automobile quite than the motive force to make it a civil offense, after which mandate that the revenues go on to security initiatives. This can make it simpler to implement the violations whereas nonetheless defending drivers’ privateness and making certain the fines are manageable for lower-income offenders. It’ll additionally probably enhance pedestrian security by directing the fines towards additional road security tasks. For now, this pink mild digital camera legislation will solely be carried out in Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, and San Francisco. Even then, it will solely apply to sure intersections, as most pink lights nonetheless do not have cameras.
Senate Invoice 720 addresses a major situation, however some issues linger
Stroll San Francisco and different advocates of Senate Invoice 720 have pushed for this legislation on account of rising security issues surrounding working pink lights. In response to the invoice textual content, the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security (IIHS) has reported 1,149 deaths and 107,000 accidents from pink mild working in 2022. “The crashes that end result from pink mild working are more likely to be extreme or deadly as a result of they’re ‘right-angle’ crashes,” said Stroll San Francisco. “Drivers working pink lights are sometimes additionally rushing, elevating the stakes much more if a crash happens.” Nevertheless, the IIHS discovered that cameras decreased deadly pink mild working crashes in bigger cities by 21%.
Whereas this invoice could appear to be a no brainer, there may be some controversy about the usage of cameras to situation citations to drivers. In New York Metropolis, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s push to add extra cameras to its buses has led to New Yorkers claiming that the AI-powered cameras have despatched over 3,800 incorrect and unwarranted tickets. Senate Invoice 720 additionally mentions that cities could use automated visitors enforcement techniques, permitting the cameras to detect and ticket drivers. Regardless of potential points, cities round america are persevering with to discover cameras and different new methods of slowing down rushing vehicles because the regarding habits continues.
