The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which operates the Municipal Railway (Muni), today announced that it has installed and activated DriveCam, a driver risk mitigation system, in all of its trolley, biodiesel and biodiesel-electric hybrid buses, to help improve safety on the transit system.

“This state-of-the-art system is an important new tool to improve the safe operation of Muni vehicles,” said Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., SFMTA Executive Director/CEO. “The activation of DriveCam represents a continuation of the ongoing commitment to the safe and reliable operation of Muni.”

The DriveCam system uses interior and exterior cameras to record collisions and other unsafe driving behavior. The cameras record and download a few seconds of footage before and after an incident when the vehicle experiences an exceptional force, such as hard breaking or swerving. These recordings will be used for safety investigations and Operator instruction.

The SFMTA will use DriveCam as a tool to improve driving behavior, assess liability from collisions and reduce expenses incurred from such incidents that can include vehicle damage, worker’s compensation and personal injury.

“Operators who engage in unsafe behavior must be trained or disciplined,” said James Dougherty, SFMTA Director of Safety, Security and Enforcement. “DriveCam will serve as a vital component of our training system.”

The $1.2 million contract covers the installation of the equipment and a one-year subscription to the DriveCam service which includes technical support analysis.