Speed Camera Notices in LA, Long Beach and Glendale: Points and Insurance

Speed cameras are new to California, and the first question most drivers ask after a notice arrives is whether it will follow them to their insurance. The statute that created the programme answers that more clearly than most people expect.

Where the cameras can go

Vehicle Code section 22425 names six designated cities — Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale in Southern California, plus San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco — and limits where each may place cameras:

• Streets that meet the state's standards for a safety corridor.
• Streets with a high number of street-racing or speed-exhibition incidents, which the law defines as at least four separate law-enforcement calls in the two years before the camera goes in.
• School zones, where a zone with a higher limit when children are not present may only be enforced at the school-zone limit in set windows around the start of school, lunch and the end of the day.

The law caps the number of systems by population; a city of over 3 million, which is Los Angeles, may run up to 125. Mobile cameras are not allowed until at least two years after the first fixed camera is installed.

When a notice is issued

Under section 22426, the camera photographs the rear plate of vehicles travelling 11 mph or more over the posted limit, and notices go only to the registered owner. The notice must arrive within 15 calendar days of the violation and must show the speed, the limit, the location and time, and verification of the camera's most recent calibration. You then have 30 calendar days from the mailing date to pay or to contest it. The penalty rises in four tiers with speed, with the top tier reserved for 100 mph or more; the notice states the amount.

Why it does not reach your driving record

Section 22426 is direct: a camera-recorded speeding violation is subject only to a civil penalty and shall not result in the DMV suspending or revoking your licence, or in a violation point being assessed. That matters for insurance in two ways. Insurers must give the most weight to your driving safety record under Insurance Code section 1861.02, and California's Good Driver test counts violation points. By the statute's own terms, a camera notice carries no point to count.

What it does not do is protect you from an officer. A speeding ticket written by a police officer on the same street is an ordinary moving violation, and it goes on your driving record like any other.

Lent the car? The notice still comes to you

Because notices go to the registered owner, lending your car to a family member means the notice arrives in your name. The statute gives an affidavit of non-liability for a car rented or leased from a rental company or used through a personal vehicle-sharing programme, with the agreement as proof, and for a car that was stolen, with a police report. Contested notices go through an administrative review, and the final decision can be appealed to superior court.

How long the programme runs

The article creating the pilot is set to be repealed on January 1, 2032, unless the Legislature extends it. Until then, expect the number of cameras in the three Southern California cities to grow toward their caps.

If an officer-issued ticket has already landed on your record and you want to know what it does to your rate, we can quote it honestly and tell you when it stops counting.