Drive Like You Are Always Being Watched in San Francisco

Don’t think you can break the law just because you don’t see a cop around when driving in San Francisco.

The beautiful Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

The City of San Francisco is also its own county.  It is the only city in the entire state of California that is set up this way, but not the only one in the country – it is just rare to see it this way. San Francisco (the city) used to just be the county seat of San Francisco County when the county was much larger, until 1856 when county split in two and San Francisco County and city become one entity. The other part of county then changed to San Mateo County.

So there you go, now you know a little bit of useless trivia to awe your friends with.

But there is a point to explaining it also. With San Francisco being a city and its own county, it means that the traffic statistics are identical. So when you see that there have been 29 fatalities in the city and 29 total fatalities in the county, it isn’t because San Francisco is the worst city to drive in for that county. Actually, San Francisco is the only city to drive in for that county.

Beware San Francisco Traffic Cameras

San Francisco is taking its cue from the nearby Silicon Valley and is fully embracing the technological spirit when it comes to traffic enforcement. Just like other large cities, San Francisco is working to solve their red light running issue by installing red light cameras at the worst intersections for red light runners.

But, San Francisco has taken camera traffic enforcement even further by installing traffic cameras on their city buses.  What!?!

Yes, that’s right, their city buses are moving traffic cameras that actually video tape drivers breaking the law. But before you freak out about big brother watching us all the time, the bus cameras were installed to record a very specific traffic violation – those that illegally drive and park in the transit-only lanes.

Transit-only lanes are to help public transit go faster so that it is a viable option for people to use to get around. If vehicle drivers are using it as a free pass to get around other traffic or not have to find a parking spot, it slows the public transit down.

Those caught on camera driving in a transit-only lane get a $60 fine, and those caught being lazy and parking in a transit-only lane will get a $115 fine.

Minimum Insurance for San Francisco

No matter the city or county, insurance minimums are the same all over the state of California. All drivers are required to carry no less than $15,000 in bodily injury liability coverage for a single person, $30,000 in bodily injury liability coverage for more than one person, and $5,000 in property damage liability coverage.

And insurance verification is done electronically in California. So don’t think that you can get away with not having it just because you have a greater chance of getting a ticket from a camera in San Francisco than an actual police officer that asks to see it when they pull you over.