Speed cameras could be coming to Long Beach’s deadliest streets – NBC Los Angeles

Another pedestrian was struck and killed in Long Beach last wee, adding to what is shaping up to be one of the deadliest years on record for people on foot.

Now, the city is one step closer to launching a pilot program officials hope will change that: speed cameras placed along some of Long Beach’s most dangerous streets.

The Long Beach City Council is expected to vote this week on funding a five-year “Speed Safety System” pilot that would install 18 speed cameras citywide, including at high-risk intersections like Ocean Boulevard and Pacific Avenue.

Advocates who have lost loved ones to traffic violence say the cameras can’t come soon enough.

“Everyone who lives around here knows — if you have little kids, don’t let them walk around here,” said Samantha Acosta, a Long Beach resident who lives near Anaheim Boulevard, one of the streets slated for a camera.

Intersections on Anaheim, Artesia, PCH, 2nd, 7th, Atlantic, Long Beach, Ocean and Willow Boulevard are considered a high-priority corridor, where speeding has contributed to serious and fatal crashes. Nine other sites include Shoreline, Alamitos/Oceans, Bellflower, Cherry Avenue and Santa Fe Avenue. 

A city map identifies 18 locations where speeding has been persistent — and where lives have already been lost.

For “Grandma Beverly,” those losses are personal.

She lost her 5-year-old grandson in a pedestrian crash years ago and later co-founded SoCal Families for Safe Streets. A former truck driver, she believes speed cameras will change driver behavior.

“Speed cameras will work like red-light cameras,” she said. “You’ll get used to them being there, and you’re not going to do the thing that breaks the law.”

Lili Trujillo Packet, founder of Street Racing Kills, agrees. She lost her 16-year-old daughter to street racing and says accountability is long overdue.

“I definitely think the camera will deter and save some lives,” Trujillo Packet said.

Under the proposed program — modeled after systems already in use in San Francisco — vehicle owners would receive citations ranging from $50 to $500, depending on how far over the speed limit they’re driving.

“Once they get their first ticket,” Trujillo Packet said, “They’ll know there are cameras — and they’ll avoid them.”

That’s the hope shared by advocates who are mourning a growing toll. More than 50 pedestrians have been killed in Long Beach this year, the highest number in a decade.

“Ninety-five percent or more are preventable,” Grandma Beverly said. “Completely preventable, when you look into the actual crash.”

She points to speeding and distracted driving — behaviors she believes the cameras can curb.

If approved, the city says the 18 speed cameras could be installed and operational next year.

For families who’ve already lost loved ones, the vote is about more than enforcement — it’s about preventing the next empty chair at the table.