For the first 60 days after a speed camera is activated, drivers who exceed the threshold receive a warning notice in the mail instead of a fine. The warning carries no financial penalty. After 60 days, the same behaviour produces a citation starting at $50.
It applies every time cameras go live somewhere new
This is the part people miss. The warning period is not a one-off at programme launch. AB 645 requires it whenever speed safety systems are activated on additional streets. A city three years into its programme still owes a fresh 60-day warning period on any newly activated corridor.
That means the answer to "are the cameras live near me" can genuinely differ street by street within the same city.
What a warning notice looks like
It arrives by mail, addressed to the registered owner, and states the recorded speed and location. There is nothing to pay and nothing to contest. Its purpose is informational — the legislature's reasoning being that enforcement is fairer when people have been told the camera exists.
Los Angeles timing
LADOT has said the programme launches in late summer or fall of 2026. The 60-day warning period begins when systems are switched on, which means the first real citations follow roughly two months after that. We track the programme stage on our map and show the LADOT statement it is based on, so you can check the current position rather than rely on a date written months earlier.