Los Angeles drivers can now be ticketed for speeding without direct police involvement. USC community members who commute may be impacted by the new bill, which will take effect in January 2024. 

The signing of AB-645 by Gov. Gavin Newsom Oct. 13 launched a six-city program in L.A., San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Long Beach and Glendale to spearhead the incorporation of automated speed cameras, all in an effort to ticket drivers who infringe upon posted speeding limits. These cameras will take record of speeding drivers’ license plates and ticket the registered owner.

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Caroline Perez, a sophomore majoring in international relations, said she noticed many drivers speed in L.A. She also said there could be a possible increase in unwarranted tickets leading to increased court congestion.

“I grew up in a city where a lot of the upperclassmen would actually pass away due to speeding and getting into crazy crashes,” Perez said. “I do like [the law]; I just don’t know if it’s gonna really help diminish the death toll for speeding.” 

This state law has been spurred by the increase in pedestrian deaths in California. Since 2018, annual pedestrian deaths in California have surpassed the thousands, reaching 1,100 deaths last year. According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, on average, the pedestrian fatality rate in California is 25% higher than in the rest of the nation. 

The aim of AB-645 is to help improve traffic safety and reduce the number of deaths related to traffic violence by deterring drivers from violating the speed limit — and speed cameras are effective at reducing car accidents. According to the Federal Highway Administration, speed cameras reduce vehicle crashes by 54% in urban areas. 

On the other hand, Shandela Contreras, a junior majoring in creative writing, said she thinks the new policy risks drivers’ privacy. 

“A license plate is already connected to a person’s name, their Social Security [number],” Contreras said. “It won’t be hard to identify a person based on their license plate. I think they’ll connect them to their faces and all of their private information, so I definitely do think there’s a risk.” 

Newsom has attempted to pass the bill eight times since 2005 but has faced resistance from civil rights and advocacy groups like Oakland Privacy, Black Lives Matter California and American Civil Liberties Union California Action for concerns regarding surveillance and privacy of low-income communities of color. 

In response to the groups’ concerns, lawmakers amended the policy. Reduced fines for low-income drivers, allowing violators to participate in community service as opposed to paying fines and only recording drivers’ license plates, not drivers’ faces, were all methods incorporated into the law to help alleviate concerns.

“I see why it was implemented, but I’m a little sad. It feels kind of dystopian,” said Joshua Yoon, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. 

Yoon said he agrees that the policy could potentially have negative implications for low-income drivers who might have fewer resources to dispute tickets.

“It’ll just get stricter on the people who don’t have as many defenses against the legal system,” he said. “The people on the bottom will probably get hit more [by speeding tickets] because they’ll have more offenses on their record, whereas other people who can better avoid these kinds of accusations — [it] won’t matter [for them].”

In states like Chicago, where speed cameras have already been implemented, Black and brown drivers have been disproportionately impacted, according to a report by PBS SoCal.

The report states that the impact of speed cameras on low-income communities across the nation highlights how underserved communities could be systematically harmed by the policy. Infrastructure in these communities, such as multi-lane streets and highways, wide roads and arterial streets, is often designed for speed, not safety. 

Groups that oppose the bill, however, support other tactics to encourage driver safety, such as adding speed bumps and traffic circles in these communities, to help slow drivers down. 

Traffic calming features in low-income communities are a rarity compared to more affluent neighborhoods. Communities with lower socioeconomic statuses have wider roads and arterial roadways that increase the risk of death for residents. Pedestrians in low-income neighborhoods are 2.24 times more likely to be hit by a vehicle and 2.15 times more likely to be killed or maimed compared to communities with higher socioeconomic statuses. Despite opposition, people of color do support AB-645, as low-income people of color are those most at risk of being killed due to traffic violence. 

The perils of traffic violence are not barred to low-income communities; however, L.A. altogether has experienced a 64% increase in car accident deaths since 2011. Nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the United States experienced an estimated 42,795 fatalities due to traffic violence in 2022, some of the highest reported estimates of vehicle deaths in 16 years. 

The increased number of deaths related to traffic violence could be indicative of poor habits among L.A. drivers. Yoon said the speeding culture in L.A. makes it difficult to hold every driver to the same level of accountability. 

“If we’re too strict on [speeding], we can always pull out anything anyone’s ever done,” Yoon said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily justice, even if it is true.”