A state bill just signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom will allow Long Beach to install two more speed cameras — this time along Pacific Coast Highway, a state route that has seen a rash of deadly wrecks in recent years.
Those cameras are in addition to those already being installed at 18 other locations across the city. Those cameras are scheduled to start issuing tickets in October as part of a state-approved experiment to see if they can make streets safer.
The new cameras on PCH could be installed as soon as Jan. 1 and will follow the same rules laid out in the pilot program.
Because PCH is a state route, it was not included in the original law that allowed Long Beach – and several other major cities in the state – to install speed cameras. State Sen. Lena Gonzalez, who authored the bill allowing them on PCH, said the new cameras will be key in curbing traffic deaths.
Since 2020, crash data show that PCH has accounted for about one-fifth of the city’s traffic deaths despite covering less than 1% of the city’s roadways, according to Gonzalez’s office. This year, Long Beach has recorded 37 fatal crashes. Of those, seven have happened along PCH, including five that killed pedestrians.
Parent organizations, neighbors and friends have told Gonzalez they “just want to see some deterrence with the speeding on our streets,” she said in a phone interview.
Gonzalez has also been personally affected: A friend spent months recovering in a hospital after a wreck with a driver speeding on PCH, she said.
It will be up to the city where to install the cameras along PCH, but Gonzalez said Long Beach already has data on where they’re needed.
Once installed, the cameras will issue warnings for 60 days, then automatically issue tickets to the owners of vehicles spotted going at least 11 miles per hour over the speed limit.
License plate data collected by the cameras will be deleted after five business days and will not be shared with the police department, Gonzalez said. The city’s traffic safety division will be in charge of installing the cameras and collecting citations, just as with the pilot program.
Proceeds from the citations will be spent on traffic-calming measures like roundabouts, speed feedback signs and crosswalks, Gonzalez said.
The goal is not “to make money,” Gonzalez said, “it’s really just to ensure that we’re deterring folks from speeding along these really high-injury-network areas.”
Gonzalez’s bill originally asked for six cameras along PCH. The bill’s final version allowed for just two.
A similar bill to add five cameras to a 21-mile stretch of PCH in Malibu was passed in 2024. It came in direct response to the deaths of four Pepperdine University students in late 2023.