Officials expect to install the cameras in the spring and begin issuing warning citations for 60 days through the summer. Speeding drivers will begin receiving fines in the fall.<\/p>\n
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How will it work?<\/p>\n
The 18 camera locations were chosen for their high rates of street racing, speeding and pedestrian collisions. Most locations are also in or near a school zone.<\/p>\n
Cameras had to be placed within either a federally designated<\/a> safety corridor, school zone or an area that has received calls for enforcement for four separate incidents within the last two years.<\/p>\n A screenshot from a City Council presentation shows the locations for speed cameras.\n<\/p>\n There is some overlap. Long Beach Boulevard, for example, will have cameras installed at three locations, each for different reasons: one between E. San Antonio Drive and 45th Street, due to being a high-injury network and a bustling truck route; another between Victoria and Market Street for its rampant street racing despite being a school zone; and a third one covering Artesia Boulevard to 70th Street, due to having the highest rate of street racing in the city. It is also a common route for trucks.<\/p>\n There will be warnings you\u2019re approaching a speed camera, said Public Works Director Josh Hickman. Signage will be posted within 500 feet of the pole-mounted devices with \u201cPhoto Enforced\u201d in bold below, with other signage posted further back to allow drivers a chance to decelerate.<\/p>\n The only data collected will be a photograph of a driver\u2019s rear license plate. Using that, Public Works employees will issue tickets to their registered owners, who could be a different person than the driver. Cameras will not photograph people\u2019s faces, and license plate data will not be shared with any law enforcement.<\/p>\n Drivers will have time to adjust. Tickets issued in the first 60 days will come only with a warning. Afterwards, owners of any car speeding over 11 mph face a fine of $50, with a cost escalator up to $500 for those driving 100 mph.<\/p>\n Tickets can be paid, negotiated down as much as 80% based on income level or swapped for community service. Data is erased once the ticket is resolved.<\/p>\n The program will cost $835,000 in the first year, with an annual operating cost of about $1.6 million. Over the five-year period it\u2019s expected to run, officials estimate it will cost a total of $8.9 million, covered wholly by citations issued.<\/p>\n Any additional profits from citations will be used to pay for traffic calming improvements, like speed bumps, flashing beacons and lane narrowing.<\/p>\n How\u2019d we get here?<\/p>\n This comes two years after the city was approved to join a state pilot<\/a> for speed cameras alongside six other cities. But so far, only one, San Francisco, has launched the program, while others continue to lag behind.<\/p>\n Since the bill authorizing the pilot was signed in October 2023, there have been more than 3,200 crashes in Long Beach \u2014 of those, more than 20% resulted from speeding, according to state collision data. Of the nearly 3,000 people injured in traffic collisions in 2024, speed was the leading factor in a quarter of the crashes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n