Red-light, speed cameras could be banned

By Christopher Tidmore
The Louisiana Weekly Contributing Writer

Two New Orleans area legislators have proposed a new statute that could end red-light and speed cameras in parishes across the state.

Orleans Parish has collected over $15 million in additional fines thanks to the cameras. But the fines come from making the streets less safe, said Algiers Demo­crat Jeff Arnold. “Too many times a person has slammed on his brakes right as they’re approaching a camera and almost causing accidents.”

Arnold wishes to change state law to mandate parish referendums before the cameras can be used by law enforcement to levy fines. His justification: The cameras remove a citizen’s right to due process.

Metairie Republican Senator Danny Martiny, who is sponsoring legislation to ban speed cameras, explained that under current law there is no day in court, no right to appeal when a driver gets a citation from the cameras. It is not the person who is breaking the speeding law, that concerns the Senator, it is the person “who doesn’t believe he was speeding, doesn’t have a fair chance in the system.”

Arnold agreed, stating that the very least “you can do is ask them for permission” before you ask a citizen to give up “their right to due process,” namely their day in court before a judge—something not possible under the current arraignments.

Under Arnold’s legislation, the voters of each parish would have to approve red-light cameras before parish councils and law enforcement could put them into place. Martiny’s bill would ban local governments from using speed cameras altogether.

KKAY 1590 AM General Manager Harry Hoyler, a former cop and one of the state’s leading critics of red-light and speed cameras, argued to The Louisiana Weekly that the cameras may have actually expanded crime.

“When a police officer makes a stop, whether it is for running a red light or speeding, it gives him the opportunity to examine a car for illegal drug trafficking or other dangers,” Hoyler explained. “It is one of the best tools that law enforcement has. But, when you let cameras catch speeders, you end up losing one of the best tools that police have to fight crime.”

Governor Jindal has said he would sign either piece of legislation if it makes it to his desk. However, similar efforts in the last legislative session failed, particularly after local governments, like New Orleans, argued that the fines have plugged holes in local budgets that otherwise would have seen draconian cuts in the current economic climate.

This story originally published in the April 25, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.