Minneapolis reports early drops in speeding at pilot camera sites; council presses on expansion, privacy and equity
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Summary
Public Works reported a 50%+ reduction in speeding at five pilot traffic camera locations through December 2025, processing roughly 33,000 violations; council members asked about expansion criteria, privacy protections, fees and how county/state roads or bridges might be included.
Minneapolis Public Works presented the 2025 annual report on the traffic safety camera pilot and told the Super Committee of the Whole the city saw immediate reductions in speeding at the five pilot locations and is planning a phased expansion.
Ethan Folley, the transportation planning manager leading the pilot, said cameras launched in October and that, through December, the program recorded a more than 50% drop in drivers exceeding the speed threshold at camera locations. "Over the three months we managed more than 33,000 violations," Folley said, adding that the program issues a warning for a first violation, provides a free online traffic safety course after the second offense, and sets fines under state law of $40 or $80 depending on the severity.
Council members probed the criteria for expansion, which Folley described as a combination of reported injury‑crash history (a five‑year screen), proximity to schools (state law requires cameras to be within 2,000 feet of a school), pedestrian demand and equity considerations. He said the pilot can include county and state roadways or parkways only after permission from those agencies and that inclusion of such corridors is being explored for 2027.
Folley noted privacy and data‑security provisions written into state law and local implementation: cameras only record video when they detect a qualifying violation; images must not allow personal identification in the front, and data retention and destruction timelines are prescribed by statute. "That was essential to the approach," Folley said, noting engagement with the ACLU and local transparency groups during legislative drafting.
Council members also asked about signage and public notice, mobile versus permanent locations and how revenue from citations will be used; Folley said state law requires citation revenue to fund program operations or traffic‑safety efforts when there is excess. The city will phase additional locations, add some mobile placements and evaluate combined speed and red‑light enforcement sites in 2026.
What comes next: the clerk filed the annual report and staff said city agencies will continue evaluation as more months of data become available and the pilot proceeds toward its June 2029 authorization limit.
Key figures and rules cited: five pilot locations through December 2025; ~33,000 violations in three months; state law sets fines and a maximum of 42 locations during the pilot; cameras activate only for violations and limit personally identifiable imagery.