Los Angeles turned on approximately 20 cameras at dangerous intersections around the city on Monday (Oct. 26), intended to catch speeding drivers and, hopefully, save lives.
For the next 60 days, drivers exceeding the speed limit by at least 11 miles per hour will receive written warnings by mail. Following that, tickets will be issued to offenders, with fines ranging from $50 to $500, depending on the driver's speed. By the end of the year, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) plans to activate 125 cameras across the city.
LA is currently trying to get a handle on vehicular violence, with car crashes in the city claiming about 300 lives annually, a toll that exceeds the annual number of homicides in the city of 4 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. The city has placed cameras near high-injury/high-death intersections, near schools, and at spots known for street racing.
LA is years behind other large cities like New York, Oakland, and San Francisco, which have already installed speed cameras. In the latter city, the cameras brought about a dramatic 80 percent drop in speeding.
LADOT expects its cameras to reduce fatal crashes at their locations by 53 to 71 percent. Malibu, a nearby city in Los Angeles County, recently launched a speed camera pilot program on 21 miles of the Pacific Coast Highway. Over the course of nine days last month, the cameras recorded approximately 100,000 speeding violations.