Speed cameras: California does the opposite to us, and gets better results

Did you know that speed cameras aren’t a thing in California, America’s most populous state?

As I write this, there isn’t a single one in all of California. They’re literally illegal. “They’re all red light cameras,” says my Uber driver as I get a lift from LAX to downtown LA where I’m staying, fresh off a direct Melbourne flight.

He’s talking about all the new-looking white cameras on poles at intersections, identical to those occasionally hidden behind road signs in Victoria.

“We don’t do speed cameras in California” he shrugs.

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Days later, I find myself on one of LA’s monstrous eight-lane freeways – during a rare period when they aren’t choked with traffic. Cars and giant pickups hammer down the far left lane at up to 90mph – 145km/h in new money.

Do 130km/h – not that I did, officer; I’m relating a story from someone else – and you’re likely to get almost maliciously tailgated. And while black-and-white highway patrol cars occasionally lurk beside the road just as they do in Australia, nobody seems to blink an eye as they blast past them.

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You might suppose, then, that the road toll is going down in Australia – where speed cameras are widely employed – and up in California.

In fact, it’s the other way around.

Despite this, Californian lawmakers are trying to push through legislation that would allow the first speed cameras to be installed.

They argue state pedestrian deaths are the highest they’ve been in 41 years – and the cameras are the fix they desperately need. (A law against staring at your phone while crossing the street might also be sensible.)

If passed, the new bill would make California only the 19th US state to install speed cameras. At least initially, the cameras would only issue tickets to those doing a minimum of 11mph (17km/h) over the speed limit.

They would first issue a warning to anyone caught, before passing on fines starting at $50. Camera fines would be exempt from California’s equivalent of Australia’s demerit point system. But all in all, they’d clearly be fairly light whacks with a stick compared to Australia – if the law passes.

For now, California remains speed camera free. And as someone coming from Victoria – where the hidden speed camera network has had an almost sedative effect over local drivers – I couldn’t help but notice myself driving a little bit differently in America’s Golden State. (And no, I don’t mean speeding everywhere...)

Mostly, it was freeing not having to know the local speed camera system and how strictly you needed to adhere to any limit. An email or two from the hire car company a month after your holiday is not the kind of souvenir anyone wants – especially if old mate Hertz also clips the ticket themselves along the way.

Without a sizeable percentage of my mental capacity (already limited, if you ask my missus) permanently concerned with either my speed, or where the next camera is – or scanning the side of the road for an awkwardly parked Toyota Kluger – I felt more trusted to make my own judgements and decisions, more engaged even in urban driving.

I wanted to turn off the podcast and focus more on what was out the windscreen – and, invariably, opportunities to save a bit of time.

Driving in busy, free-flowing traffic even felt a bit more, dare I say, fun. Other drivers seemed more alert; the roads seemed to work ‘better’.
If passed, California’s speed cameras would be trialled for five years from January 1, 2024, after which the program would be reassessed. A few months spent driving around parts of Australia would save them the time.