Los Angeles is moving forward with a major street safety push, as the city prepares to install up to 125 speed cameras across its neighborhoods in the coming months.
The Los Angeles City Council voted 14-0 on Tuesday to authorize the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) to launch the speed camera pilot program, making Los Angeles the last of six authorized California cities to do so. The program is expected to cost the city nearly $8.5 million.
City workers are expected to begin installing and testing the cameras between April and July, with cameras mounted on streetlight poles throughout the city. Most council districts will receive eight cameras each, though districts 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10 will each get one additional camera.
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky was direct in her assessment of the city’s slow start. “L.A. is the last to implement it, and frankly, that’s embarrassing and unfortunate,” she said. “This pilot is limited to five years, and we’re already well into that five-year period.”
Yaroslavsky also underscored the human cost of inaction. “Speeding, as we know, is one of the most serious threats on our streets. Cars are the leading causes of death for children in Los Angeles and the rest of the country,” she said. “This program gives us a tool to prevent those deaths and protect people in every neighborhood.”
Traffic collisions killed 290 people in Los Angeles in 2025, according to the LAPD. More than 150 of those deaths involved pedestrians — and the toll exceeded the city’s homicide count for the year.
Damian Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are For Everyone, spoke in support of the program during Tuesday’s public comment. “I am proud of how this program has been crafted with safety as its primary and foremost purpose,” Kevitt said. “I love that the revenue from this program can only be used for road safety improvements across L.A., and that it is not allowed to be run by law enforcement but instead is administered by LA DOT.”
Once cameras are installed, LADOT will conduct a 60-day public information campaign — running roughly between July and September — to alert drivers about camera locations before enforcement begins. First-time violations will receive warnings throughout the entire duration of the pilot. After the grace period ends, drivers caught speeding will be issued citations.
Revenue generated from those citations must be used exclusively for road safety improvements and traffic-calming projects.
The council also directed LADOT to expand its Community Assistance Parking Program, allowing low-income or unhoused individuals to perform community service instead of paying fines. LADOT will submit annual reports on the program’s effectiveness in supporting low-income residents.
Some critics have argued the program could disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color, characterizing it as further criminalization of those groups.
The speed camera program traces its roots to October 2023, when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 645, authored by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman of Burbank. The law, which took effect on January 1, 2024, authorized Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, San Jose, Oakland, and the city and county of San Francisco to operate the speed safety system pilot program through January 1, 2032, unless extended by legislation. Other authorized cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, have already implemented the program.
A final evaluation report on the pilot will be required on or before March 1 of the program’s final year.
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