Los Angeles Turns On 125 Speed Cameras, Starting With Warnings

Los Angeles started issuing speed warnings on Monday, opening a dispute over whether automated cameras can slow traffic on streets where the city records the most crashes. The program will fine drivers later, not now, and that timing is the first question for motorists. Officials say speeding accounts for most crashes on city streets.

The system works like this: cameras photograph rear plates when a vehicle travels at least 11 mph above the posted limit. The city plans to install 125 cameras by the end of the year. A 60-day warning period comes first, with notices sent by mail. After that, drivers going 11 to 15 mph over the limit owe $50, and penalties rise with speed to a maximum of $500. These are civil penalties, so no points land on a DMV record.

Four intersections were live as of Monday: La Brea Avenue and First Street, Fairfax Avenue and Clinton Street, Melrose Avenue and Hayworth Avenue, and La Cienega Boulevard and Pico Boulevard. The locations sit near schools and on streets with records of serious crashes. The program runs for five years as a pilot.

LaKayla Keenan, who owns a beauty salon near one of the camera sites, said she watches speeding drivers and collisions on the street. "Hopefully, it does slow them down," Keenan said. She added that she was not sure the cameras would change behavior right away: "Maybe when people start to catch on to it, they might start slowing down."

The cameras record plates only, not faces of drivers or passengers. Fines begin 60 days after Monday's launch.