The House Transportation Committee voted today for Senate-approved legislation that would result in the installation of speed cameras on the I-10 Atchafalaya Basin Bridge. Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson says the cameras will track vehicles as they go over the 18-mile bridge and if they get across in less than 18 minutes the driver was likely speeding.
“You’ve obviously gone consistently above the 60 miles per hour limit,” said Wilson
Senate President Page Cortez says the goal of his legislation is not to generate revenue from speeding ticket fines, but to make the bridge safer, which has seen injury-related crashes double over the last decade.
“If you’re going 80 and you are reading a text message, you have no chance to react or at least you have a better chance to react if you are going 60 than going 80,” said Cortez.
Supporters of the legislation say cameras would be a better way to catch speeders than actual police officers because the narrow shoulders on the bridge make it unsafe for officers. Rosepine Representative Charles Owen agrees.
“I don’t like cameras, I think we have too many of them, I don’t want to live in China, but this is something else and you are right about the police officers being there and in danger and that is a crazy bridge,” said Owen.
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