As they’ve become more common in the past decade, speeding cameras have caused consternation among Louisiana residents in cities such as New Orleans, which have slapped drivers with high fines.
Now, a new state law has made it much easier to appeal such citations, allowing motorists to beg off camera tickets issued during stormy weather or when someone else is driving their car. It also requires that when automated enforcement takes place in school zones, school districts see a share of the profits. And it seriously restricts the use of handheld automated enforcement devices.
Police are still able to pull drivers over for speeding, but if a town or city wants to use mobile speed cameras that result in a mail-issued citation — rather than a one-on-one interaction with a cop — they face new rules.
Though the changes fall short of the wholesale ban on traffic cameras that some lawmakers pushed for in the regular session that ended in June, when taken together, they eat away at an enforcement tool that has irked drivers for years. Municipalities who depend on the cameras for revenue may also be forced to find new financing.
Sen. Stewart Cathey, R-Monroe, authored Senate Bill 302, which received bipartisan support in the Legislature before the governor signed it into law in May. He said he sponsored it amid complaints from constituents and out of concerns that automated speeding enforcement systems are used to take advantage of poor Louisianans for revenue-generating purposes.
“Rural Louisiana is the poorest area pretty much in the country and so these people are preying on the poorest of the poor,” Cathey said. I have “zero respect for the company that’s doing it, and I’ll be honest, I’d love to be able to put them out of business.”
Cathey also shared concerns that automated enforcement violates the right to due process by taking away the right of a driver to face their accuser.
Proponents of automated enforcement say they keep roads safer, especially in school zones. In a statement, the speeding camera provider Blue Line said its programs reduced speeding in Shreveport school zones by 95%.
The law could have a significant impact on New Orleans, where $20 million of the city’s annual $1.5 billion budget comes from traffic camera revenue. Though the city had for years been allowed to spend traffic camera revenue freely, it now must divide a portion of its funds with the local school district and spend what’s left over specifically on drainage improvements, such as the clearing of clogged catch basins.
Small towns throughout Louisiana also contract with private companies to employ automated enforcement systems.
What the law does
Under Cathey’s law, every municipality that uses handheld or stationary traffic cameras must give drivers a chance to appeal those tickets.
If car owners provide a “truthful affidavit” that they were not driving their cars at the time the fine was issued, they can get the fine dropped.
Drivers can also be let off the hook if they were clearing the path for an ambulance, following a police officer’s instructions or driving in hazardous conditions that would make compliance difficult.
In school zones, automated enforcement can only take place one hour before and after school starts and ends. Revenue collected from those zones must be divided between local school districts and government; it is up to those two entities to agree on how to divide the money, Cathey said.
Money collected from other cameras must go toward public safety — except in New Orleans, where it is earmarked for stormwater infrastructure.
But perhaps the law’s most severe restrictions apply to handheld speeding cameras.
Except in school zones, such devices may not be used within one mile of a change in speed limit of 10 miles per hour or more. In addition, municipalities must install 3-foot by 3- foot signs between 500 and 1000 feet from the enforcement activity.
Municipalities that continue to use automated speed enforcement must disclose the revenue they generate when applying for state aid for capital improvement projects.
Impact on New Orleans
Of New Orleans’ 82 traffic cameras, all but a dozen are in school zones. In the past, the $20 million in revenue the cameras generate has gone toward general city services, without any dedicated use.
Under the new law, New Orleans — unlike other cities — must use revenue generated outside school zones for drainage. More specifically, City Council members say it will be dedicated to clearing the city’s 72,000 catch basins, which are in terrible shape after decades of neglect. City Hall historically hasn’t set aside money specifically for catch basins.
But the city will have to wait and see if there is a significant impact on overall collections based on the new protections for motorists. It will also have to negotiate how to divide revenue with city schools.
Council member Joe Giarrusso said he hopes traffic camera revenue will provide an additional $10 million every year, to cover at least a portion of the overall cost, but that too is a bit of a guessing game given the new law.
Effect on other parishes, companies
In Baton Rouge, the speeding camera law appears likely to have far less impact. A spokesperson for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said the agency does not use automated speed enforcement cameras; a spokesperson for Baton Rouge Police declined to comment.
Several small municipalities, including the village of Clayton, did not return inquiries about how the new law would impact them.
After Clayton launched a photo speed enforcement system in 2022, it issued 400 citations in two days, the Concordia Sentinel reported.
Cathey pointed to Clayton’s 2023 audit, which shows that between 2022 and 2023, revenue from fines and forfeits increased from under $21,000 to about $499,000. By comparison, the change between 2021 and 2022 was just a $6,000 decrease.
The audit does not say whether that money came exclusively from traffic citations.
In some cases, it is traffic camera company employees, rather than police, who use automated equipment, Cathey said. Some companies also get a share of the revenue that depends on how many tickets are issued, he said.
His law now requires those operating handheld enforcement devices to be POST-certified.
Blue Line, which operates exclusively in school zones in Louisiana, endorsed Cathey’s law, saying it will “protect citizens against operations of unscrupulous companies that employ predatory practices for revenue generation.”
The company added that public education and conspicuous signage form part of its speed reduction program, along with enforcement, and that its "initiatives are not designed as revenue-generating tactics."
Blue Line’s cameras have sparked backlash in other states. Two other camera companies, Verra Mobility and Redflex, did not return requests for comment.
Staff writer Ellyn Couvillion contributed to this story.
