SafeLight/SafeSpeed Changes To Be Considered By LCG

Posted: Jul 16, 2012 9:23 PM by Jim Hummel
Updated: Jul 16, 2012 9:24 PM

Tuesday night, the Lafayette City-Parish Council will consider some big changes to the SafeLight/SafeSpeed program.

An ordinance up for final adoption will modify certain aspects of the current Code of Ordinances for Electronic Enforcement, as requested by the council when the contract with Redflex was renewed back in May.

In a memo to the administration, City-Parish Attorney Mike Hebert identified the following items which would be addressed in the proposed ordinance:

1. Removal of the booting provision as a method of collection for unpaid violation fines of red-light running and speed under the Electronic Enforcement section of the Code of Ordinances.

2. A program to recover unpaid fines for violations.

3. Identifying the Director responsible for the program to be the Chief of Police.

4. Revised the definition of "intersection" to be consistent with the LaDOTD Guidelines for Traffic Enforcement Systems on State Highways.

5. Allows persons to utilize "assumption of responsibility" approach, which allows the driver, who is not the registered owner, to accept responsibility for the violation, thereby, eliminating the need for a notarized signature.

6. Provided specific range of enforceable speeds within the table for School Zones.

7. Speed enforcement units are to be deployed at the direction of the Police Department within School Zones and those locations requested by citizen complaints received by the Police Department.