Car culture in Los Angeles presents plenty of issues for the average driver. Reckless driving is a prevalent problem in areas within a mile of college campuses. Pierce College has had accidents occuring in the same intersection in 2017, 2022 and 2024 open a discussion about how to deal with safety for drivers and pedestrians around campus. While driving around Pierce college is in itself risky, and can be costly to the average student, installing speed cameras is not the answer.
In a ProPublica article by Emily Hopkins and Melissa Sanchez in 2022, red light camera enforcement affected both Black and Hispanic ZIP codes at twice the rate of white areas in Chicago between 2015 and 2019.
The tickets that are issued can then contribute to “thousands of vehicle impoundments, driver’s license suspensions and bankruptcies,” according to ProPublica.
One ticket can severely hurt a student financially, and Brahmas are already dealing with housing and food insecurity according to The Roundup. Speed cameras will only add to these anxieties.
The benefits of installing speed cameras are doubtful.
In an article written by Assistant Professor of Economics Justin Gallagher in 2018, a study found no evidence regarding the improvement of public safety as a result of red light cameras in Houston, Texas.
When the cameras were removed, T-bone accidents increased but other kinds of accidents had decreased, which suggests that adding speed cameras could do more harm than good.
“Some drivers will attempt to stop, accepting a higher risk of a non-angle accident like getting rear-ended, in order to avoid the expected fine,” Gallagher continued.
Speed cameras would not make the streets around Pierce any safer. There must be alternatives that create safer streets that also lessen traffic violations and accidents around campus.
In a 2023 Q&A with Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Shima Hamidi by Stephanie Desmon, Hamidi found that wider lanes were more dangerous than narrower streets.
“The reason is that wider lanes don’t give drivers more room for mistakes, they just make drivers drive faster,” Hamidi said.
According to Hamidi, solutions include more trees, more pedestrians, bike lanes and bikes on the street.
ProPublica also found that street infrastructure—the design of the road, population density and “calming measures,” such as pedestrian islands, concrete medians, and marked crosswalks—can encourage or discourage speeding.
Speed cameras would go against Pierce’s goal to “enhance its relationship with the community at large.” They might be a short term solution, but they will create long term issues for the community.
