Baton Rouge residents face a split-second decision when a stoplight turns yellow.Drivers who run the light risk a $117 citation if caught by the intersection’s traffic camera. But five proposed bills likely signal a lengthier judgment process for the Louisiana State Legislature this session.Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-New Orleans, is leader of the anti-camera forces in the state legislature and has introduced four bills that could change the traffic camera programs across the state. House Bill 160 bans local governments from using the cameras. HB 383 requires voter approval for the cameras to be set up. HB 283 requires any ordinance setting up cameras to also offer a ticketing system, making it easier for motorists to contest the citation in court, and HB 859 bans the cameras from roads with state or local funding.HB 374, by Rep. Joseph Lopinto, R-Metairie, would impose a $50 cap on any resulting fines and give motorists 60 days to pay.The Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works voted down HB 160, 10-6, but the committee hasn’t heard Arnold’s other bills. The Judiciary Committee passed HB 283, and it will now be debated in the House of Representatives. Scott Dyer, spokesman for East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden’s office, said Arnold amended HB 283 to reflect the Baton Rouge system. Only citizens in Baton Rouge and Lafayette can currently appeal a traffic camera citation for free. Filing a lawsuit costs $375 in New Orleans. HB 283 will make the appeals process free across the state if passed by legislature and signed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. “The compromise worked out with the mayor and Mr. Arnold,” Dyer said. “Mr. Arnold was happy because it helps reform programs [in New Orleans].”Baton Rouge traffic cameras have raised $2.7 million from the first traffic camera in February 2008 until December 2009. “The reason we’re doing it is not to raise money, but to save lives,” Dyer said. “The mayor’s position is that the program is working. Other cities in Louisiana have had problems.”University students aren’t ignorant of the proposed changes. Student Government Senate passed a resolution to “urge and request that the City of Baton Rouge abolish the use of cameras as a means of enforcing traffic laws.””The traffic cameras are not a fair way to go about increasing safety because there have been a lot of studies done that show those are marginally effective,” said Basic Sciences Sen. Jared Bourgeois. “There are other ways the city has of increasing safety.”The resolution, authored by Bourgeois, said the traffic cameras decrease the number of side collisions but increase the number of rear-end collisions just as much. Evidence from a Texas Transportation Research Institute report showed “camera enforcement reduces red-light-related crashes between 20 and 36 percent at the treated intersection. But rear-end crashes have been found to increase between 20 and 37 percent at these intersections.” A study from the Urban Transit Institute at the University of North Carolina showed results associating red-light cameras with higher levels of many types of crashes. No current study has been done on the efficiency of red-light cameras in Baton Rouge. Bourgeois said Holden said during the committee meeting he hasn’t heard any strong opposition to the traffic cameras in Baton Rouge. But Bourgeois is going to the State Capitol on Friday to show the student body does oppose the traffic cameras. The Senate resolution offers alternatives to increasing traffic safety including implementing an all-red clearance interval, increasing yellow-light time and making traffic lights more visible. Eight states have made the cameras illegal, and Louisiana is one of six states where similar debates are occurring this year.—-Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]
SG Senate supports red-light camera abolishment
April 19, 2010