Drivers in three Southern California cities could wind up receiving speeding tickets in the mail after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed off on a speed camera pilot program.
Newsom approved AB 645, a bill that allows Glendale, Long Beach and Los Angeles, as well as Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco to install speed cameras in school zones and high-injury streets with speeding problems.
The cameras would take a picture of a car's license plate and not the driver, which officials hope will address privacy concerns, if the vehicle is breaking the speed limit by 11 mph or more. First-time offenders would get a warning and then fines would start at $50.
The program includes a provision which requires cities to reduce fines for those under the poverty line.
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According to the National Transportation Safety Board, speeding accounts for nearly a third of all traffic fatalities. In 2021, 4,285 Californians died as a result of traffic fatalities, 1,233 of which were pedestrians and cyclists.
“Every single one of those lives is a person, a person that should have made it home and never did,” Assemblymember Laura Friedman, a Democrat representing the 44th District, which includes parts of Glendale, said in a statement. “AB 645 passed both houses with bipartisan support and became law because this cannot continue. This law gives us new tools in our toolbox to stop traffic violence and the senseless loss of human life.”
Speed cameras can reduce crashes on urban streets by up to 54%, according to the Federal Highway Administration. In New York City, speeding in school zones dropped by 63% after speed cameras were installed.
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Not everyone is on board, however.
Jay Beeber, executive director for Safer Streets LA and executive director of policy for the National Motorists Association, has fought against speed cameras, saying they’re ineffective and a cash grab.
“The government builds a road for one speed, puts a different speed limit on it, and then tickets people for going the speed that they've encouraged people to go,” he said.
Beeber predicts people with more minor speeding, as opposed to racers or excessive speeders, will end up paying the price.
“First of all, when people start getting these tickets, they're going to recognize that they're for tickets where they didn't put anybody in danger, where they were just driving the way the road was built. So, there's going to be a lot of backlash. There's going to be a lot of anger,” Beeber said.
But for others, the cameras represent a sensible attempt at saving lives.
Raymond Stephen Olivares was hit and killed by a speeding car participating in an illegal street takeover as he crossed the street to his home. Maria Rivas Cruz was crossing the street with Olivares at the time. She suffered a brain injury, needed wiring to attach her jaw back to her face and received reconstructive leg surgery.
Seven months later, Cruz still uses a cane to walk and said she has been in and out of the hospital dozens of times since she was first hospitalized for a month after the crash.
Cindi Enamorado, Olivares’ sister, hopes the cameras will be installed quickly. “Now what we’re doing is advocating that they bring them in as soon as possible,” she said.
