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RELATED COVERAGE: Speed safety system pilot program progresses in California
The bill would set up a pilot program in 6 California cities that would ticket speeding drivers through the use of cameras instead of officers.
LOS ANGELES - The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) has launched a new pilot program designed to crack down on excessive speeding.
What we know:
CalSTA is collaborating with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Highway Patrol on the Forwarded Actions for Speeding Tickets (FAST) initiative.
Under this program, any citation for driving more than 100 mph is automatically forwarded to the DMV’s driver safety branch, regardless of the driver's previous record.
The DMV will then review the driver’s history and the specific case to determine if a license suspension or revocation is necessary.
This administrative process can take place independently of any formal court conviction.
By the numbers:
According to CalSTA, speeding is a factor in 32% of all traffic fatalities across the state.
The CHP issues approximately 1,600 citations every month to drivers exceeding 100 mph, with more than 18,000 such citations issued in 2024 alone.
To help catch these motorists, the CHP has recently deployed a new fleet of low-profile, specifically marked patrol cars on high-risk roads.
What they're saying:
"The FAST pilot reflects our commitment to innovation, accountability and prevention — using real-time information to intervene before dangerous driving turns deadly," California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin said in a statement. "This is about protecting lives and delivering on our shared responsibilities to make our roads safer for everyone."
DMV director Steve Gordon added, "We want to take immediate action against dangerous drivers before their carelessness leads to a deadly crash. We're being proactive, and together with our CHP partners, we're ready to put the brakes on this reckless behavior."
What's next:
The pilot program builds upon existing partnerships between the DMV’s driver safety branch and the CHP’s negligent operator treatment system.
To determine the effectiveness of the FAST program, the DMV will evaluate the impact by comparing current citation and outcome data against figures from the same period in the previous year.
The Source: This report is based on official announcements and data provided by the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The information, including specific citation statistics and the administrative details of the FAST pilot program, was gathered from formal statements issued by state officials and public safety data tracking traffic fatalities and enforcement trends in 2024.