LA's speed cameras: who gets paid, and is it worth it?

October 28, 2026 · laspeedcameras.org

What just switched on

On October 26, Los Angeles turned on the first of 125 speed cameras. As of October 28, 26 are live, and the city plans to have all 125 running by the end of the year.

The rule is simple: go 11 mph or more over the limit and the camera photographs your rear plate. On a 35 mph street, that's 46.

Each camera mails warnings for its first 60 days. For the first batch, real tickets start around Christmas: $50, $100, $200, or $500 at 100 mph and up. They're civil tickets, so no points on your license.

The city's list is split across 15 PDFs, and several of the links are broken. Every camera, with its speed limit and ticket speed, is on the map.

Who gets paid

The cameras belong to Verra Mobility, a camera company traded on the Nasdaq. LA pays it a flat $4,450 per camera, per month. Over five years that's $33.4 million, plus up to $5 million in postage, for a cap of $38.4 million through January 2032.

Nobody else got to bid. Instead of running its own competition, LA reused the contract Oakland had already signed, at Oakland's prices. The mayor waived the usual review. Verra also runs the programs in San Francisco, Oakland, Glendale and Long Beach.

One detail most stories skip: state law bans paying the camera company per ticket or by a cut of the fines. Verra can't decide who gets a ticket, and it can't sell the data. So Verra doesn't profit from you speeding. It gets paid either way.

Where your $50 goes

Fine money follows a fixed order set by state law:

1. The program's own bills come first. That means Verra's fee, postage, and city staff. LADOT puts the yearly running cost at $7.95 million.
2. What's left goes to street safety fixes. Speed humps, crosswalks and road redesigns, spent within three years.
3. Unspent money goes to Sacramento. If the city doesn't use it, it goes to the state's Active Transportation Program.

None of it lands in the city's general budget. LADOT told the City Council it expects no impact on the General Fund. The cameras were approved while the city faced a more than $200 million overspend, but they can't patch it.

We did pay to start it, though. The $4.78 million in startup money came from LA's transportation sales taxes, Measures R and M. Fines pay that back first.

The city hasn't published a revenue forecast. Just covering Verra's fee takes about 133,500 paid $50 tickets a year. Try other numbers.

Why it might be good for LA

• People are dying. Speeding caused about one in five fatal crashes in LA in 2024, and 290 people died on the city's streets in 2025. That's more than were murdered.
• It seems to work. San Francisco reports up to a 72% drop in speeding on streets with cameras. See the other California cities.
• The camera company can't farm tickets. It's paid the same whether you speed or not.
• Fines stay on the street. The money can only go to the program and to safer roads, not to the general budget.
• It's gentler than a cop. No points, no insurance hit, no traffic stop. Low-income drivers can get the fine cut by 50% to 80% or do community service.
• It passed 14 to 0 on the City Council.

Why it might be bad for LA

• A private company gets paid no matter what. Verra collects $4,450 a camera every month for five years, whether or not the cameras make anyone safer.
• No one else got to bid. A $38.4 million contract went out without a competition of its own.
• The bill comes first. The city owes a fixed fee every month. Until roughly 133,500 paid tickets a year cover it, there's no money left for the safety projects that are the whole point.
• Privacy and fairness. The ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Black Lives Matter California opposed the state law, mostly over surveillance and the burden on low-income drivers.
• It's money taxpayers already paid. Sales tax fronted the $4.78 million to get it started.
• The size of the take is unclear. The city hasn't forecast revenue. The National Motorists Association, which opposes the cameras, estimates about $64 million a year.

Sources

• LADOT Speed Safety System: program details, fines, camera lists
• Westside Current, the $38 million contract: the Oakland piggyback and startup funding
• Westside Current, the council vote: the 14-0 vote, deaths, the budget
• The Auto Wire, via Yahoo News: per-camera fee and startup money
• California Senate analysis of AB 645: vendor pay rules, revenue rules, supporters and opponents
• New York Post, via AOL: running costs and the revenue estimate
• Who profits: the contract and revenue facts in one place

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