Speed cameras could be coming to the streets of three major cities in Los Angeles County and two in the Bay Area in a technology-centered effort to get drivers to slow down and to curb a rising tide of traffic fatalities — particularly involving pedestrians and cyclists.
By snapping a picture of a car’s license plate, the devices could automatically send speeding tickets to a vehicle owner’s home without involving a member of law enforcement. Civil penalties would be $50 for 11 to 15 miles per hour over the speed limit; $100 for 16 to 25 miles mph above, and $500 for traveling at 100 mph or greater.
But before the first speed camera machine is installed in the Golden State, a lot has to happen.
Legislation moving in Sacramento
Speed cameras are illegal in California and legislation would have to be passed, and signed by the governor, in order to make them legal. These are not “red-light cameras,” which are legal and can issue tickets to drivers who run red lights.
Assembly Bill 645 would authorize “speed camera” pilot programs in school zones and on high-injury streets or thoroughfares with speeding problems in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, Oakland and San Francisco.
The bill, authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, would require these cities to develop plans and to put up warning signs. Motorists who got a speed camera ticket would not see any impact to their driving record unlike tickets issued by police. Getting a ticket under Assembly Bill 645 would not increase a driver’s insurance rates.
The speed camera fines — which are much lower than pricey red-light camera violations — do not go into a city’s general fund but instead must be used to build safer streets, such as adding speed bumps and other traffic calming infrastructure, the bill reads.
Friedman, who has unsuccessfully tried before to legalize speed cameras, said she’s making an all-out effort to craft a fair, equitable system, free of human bias, in…
Read the full article here
