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LA's Speeding Ticket Hotspots

Some drivers get a break — no ticket, just a warning. But others aren't so lucky.

MAP: Click Here to see LA's Worst Intersections for Speeding Tickets

The cost of a speeding ticket has soared over the past several years. The penalty can start at $250 and climb to $500 or more.

"It got to a point where I was like, enough is enough," driver Robert Khalili said. "I’m getting so many speeding tickets, and it's so unreasonable, going 8 miles over the speed limit, 10 miles over the speed limit."

NBC4 analyzed Los Angeles Police Department speeding ticket data from July 2014 to December 2014 to see where officers write the most tickets.

"I’ve only been here for three years and I had to get used to how people move out here, because they really do move faster than the speed limit," driver Malcolm Smith said after getting a speeding ticket. "It doesn’t matter what time of day."

NBC4 watched as Los Angeles Officer Troy Williams pulled Smith over for speeding.

"This car, right here," he said while watching him pass. "You were going 52 mph on Roscoe, that's too fast," he told Smith.

Williams has heard all the excuses, including what Smith was about to tell him as to why he was going 52 mph in a 35 mph zone.

"I was moving with traffic," Smith responded.

"Yeah, you were moving with traffic, but you were moving a little bit faster," Williams said. "I have you on laser."

Williams decided to give Smith a break. No ticket, only a warning.

"I didn't even know I was going that fast," Smith said.

So where are you most likely to get pulled over?

The number one spot for speeding citations during the time period analyzed by NBC4 is the Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Canton Drive intersection in Studio City, just south of Ventura Boulevard.

Officers handed out 750 tickets at that intersection just in half of last year.

"There is a downhill slope, and most vehicles are traveling faster than the posted speed," traffic attorney Scott Desind said.

"I imagine it’s the vehicles that are accelerating to make that push up the hill are accelerating a little too fast," traffic attorney Michael Klijian said.

Desind and Klijian are traffic lawyers who help Los Angeles-area drivers fight tickets. Combined, they handle about 300 tickets a month, including those given to drivers heading both up and down Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

"Laurel Canyon is a hot spot in the valley," Desind said.

Driver Khalili hasn't been ticketed on Laurel Canyon, but he has picked up three speeding tickets in the San Fernando Valley. That’s where five of the top ticketed intersections are.

"It’s been horrible. I get cited," Khalili said. "They do it for safety but in my case I get tickets for going 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit."

"It got to a point where I couldn’t handle it," Khalili said. "I said, 'I need to get an attorney.'"

Khalili claims he was just staying with traffic. Experts told NBC4 the valley’s long, wide, flat roads make it easy to speed.

At another Laurel Canyon Boulevard intersection at Rinaldi Street, officers wrote 280 tickets, making it the fifth most popular spot to get caught speeding.

"It has nothing to do about revenue," Officer Williams said. "It’s all about complaints, traffic complaints, working a location, trying to slow people down."

"(Speed limits are) based on the conditions," he said. "So the environment determines what is safe."

The top five hotspots for LA speeding tickets are:

1. Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Canton Drive, in Studio City

2. Sunland Way and Johanna Avenue, east of Sun Valley

3. Nordhoff Street and Louise Avenue, in Northridge

4. Sepulveda Boulevard and Weddington Street, in Van Nuys

5. Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Rinaldi Street, in San Fernando

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