Speed Cameras in Long Beach: Locations, Fines, and Contesting

Speed cameras in Long Beach are coming online in 2026 under California’s Speed Safety System Pilot Program, with 18 automated enforcement locations planned across the city’s highest-risk streets and school zones. The cameras issue civil fines starting at $50, but they add no points to your license and give your insurer no basis to raise your rates. Here is when they go live, where they can be placed, what a ticket costs, and how to challenge one.

When the Cameras Go Live

Long Beach began installing speed feedback signage in January 2026. The camera hardware is scheduled to deploy in spring 2026, with the systems activated in summer 2026. Once a location is switched on, a mandatory 60-day warning period runs before any fines can be issued. Actual citation enforcement is expected to begin in fall 2026.¹

If the city adds cameras to new streets after the initial rollout, each new location gets its own fresh 60-day warning period before it can start generating fines.²

Where the Cameras Can Be Placed

State law limits camera placement to two kinds of locations. The first is safety corridors, meaning the streets with the highest concentration of serious injuries and fatalities in the city. The second is school zones.³ Long Beach has picked 18 locations, and the street-by-street list is in the city’s Speed System Impact Report, linked from the program’s official page.¹

In school zones, cameras can enforce the reduced school-zone limit during a window running from two hours before school starts to two hours after school ends, but only when a flashing beacon signals that the school limit is active. Outside that window the camera enforces the street’s regular posted speed limit.³

The Signs You Should See

Every camera location must have clearly visible signs reading “Photo Enforced” along with the posted speed limit. The signs have to be placed no more than 500 feet before the camera, facing the direction of travel being monitored.² If there is no sign, there should be no camera ahead.

What Triggers a Ticket

The system only reacts when a vehicle exceeds the posted limit by 11 mph or more. Anything under that threshold is ignored. When a qualifying speed is detected, the camera photographs the rear of the vehicle and the license plate, matches the plate against DMV records, and mails a notice of violation to the registered owner.⁴

Your first violation in the 11-to-15-mph-over range is automatically a warning. You get a notice in the mail, but you owe nothing. Only a second offense in that lowest tier triggers a fine. Violations at 16 mph or more over the limit are fined from the first occurrence.²

What a Ticket Costs

Fines follow four tiers based on how far over the limit you were clocked:

11 to 15 mph over: $50 (first offense is a warning only).
16 to 25 mph over: $100.
26 mph or more over: $200.
100 mph or faster: $500, regardless of the posted limit.

These are civil penalties, closer in legal weight to a parking ticket than a traffic citation.⁴

No Points, No License Hit, No Insurance Impact

A speed camera ticket does not add violation points to your driving record. The law explicitly prohibits the DMV from suspending or revoking your license over a speed camera violation, and that bar holds even if you never pay.⁴ Because no points are assessed, your insurance company has no basis to raise your premium off one of these tickets. Unpaid fines can still be pursued as a civil debt, so ignoring a notice is not free, but the consequences stay out of the DMV system.

If You Cannot Afford the Fine

The program builds in three ways to soften the cost. Income-based reductions come in two tiers: an 80 percent reduction if your household income is at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty level, and a 50 percent reduction if it is at or below 250 percent. You can show eligibility with proof of income or enrollment in public benefits.

You can also elect community service in place of a fine. And if you want to pay over time, the city offers payment plans capped at $25 per monthly installment, with a processing fee of no more than $5.¹

How to Contest a Ticket

You have two chances to overturn a ticket, and the clock starts on the mailing date printed on the notice.

The first step is an initial review by the issuing agency. You have to request it within 30 calendar days of the mailing date, and you can do it by phone, mail, online, or in person. The city reviews your evidence and the camera’s photographic record and mails you a decision.⁴

If that goes against you, the second step is an administrative hearing before an independent decision-maker. You have 21 calendar days from the mailing of the review decision to request the hearing, and there is a $25 filing fee.⁴

Miss both deadlines and the penalty becomes final, and the city can move to collect it as a civil debt.

What the Cameras Can and Cannot Record

Cameras photograph only the rear of the vehicle and the license plate. The law requires images to exclude the rear windshield area, and facial recognition is banned outright.²

Retention is limited. A photo that does not result in a violation must be destroyed within five business days. A photo that does lead to a citation can be kept for up to 60 days after the case is resolved, and the city can retain the fact that a vehicle was cited for up to three years. Administrative records have a 120-day retention window after final disposition.²

1
City of Long Beach. Automated Speed Enforcement System Program
2
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code VEH 22425
3
California State Assembly. Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection AB 645 Analysis
4
LegiScan. California AB645 – Vehicles: Speed Safety System Pilot Program