valtron84 / Depositphotos.com
The Louisiana House has given final legislative approval to a bill that scraps a plan to put cameras up on the I-10 Atchafalaya Basin Bridge that would issue tickets to speeding violators resulting in twice the normal fine. New Iberia Senator Blake Miguez is a big proponent of cops ticketing speeding vehicles, not cameras.
“Sex trafficking, drug trafficking, the safety of vehicles… Cameras can’t correct that action. We need an officer there that, when they make a traffic stop, they can see if they have probable cause in one of these trafficking scenarios or to make sure the vehicle is in proper compliance,” Miguez explained.
The measure voids a section of a law passed in 2022 that sought to control speeding on the 18-mile bridge by doubling the speeding fines and using cameras to do it. But Miguez says a normal speeding ticket already costs a driver 350 dollars.
“$700 tickets? And this is people in St. Martin and Lafayette Parish and Iberia Parish. Maybe a crawfisherman is just going across the basin to go fish in the basin. They’re not having to deal with that that in any other area of the state,” Miguez said.
Miguez says using cameras to issue tickets also means fewer dollars for their local criminal justice system.
“When it comes to citing people, we’re going to do that for the public entity where those funds go to our locals and not with a private contract, where our locals get remnants of the funds,” Miguez said.
Comments