Safe Speed Lafayette vs Beu

I received my first speeding ticket ever in the mail a few months ago. I wasn't pulled over by a police officer. I was caught on camera by Safe Speed on the corner of University Ave and Simcoe St in Lafayette, Louisiana.

My first reaction was anger. My second reaction was to wonder what the bumsen, so I sent in the little form to contest the ticket. If you lose, you pay a $30.00 adjudication fee on top of the fine. I didn't mind getting the ticket, I was speeding. There was just something about getting my first speeding ticket in that manner that didn't feel right.

I got a call from a nice lady (I didn't get her name) requesting my presence at 705 West University Ave at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon seven months after I sent in my protest. By this point I'd completely forgotten about the ticket and was a bit taken aback. I said I'd be there and I had no idea what to expect. I'd never been in a court room or dealt with an adjudicator before.

705 West University Ave is the home of the Lafayette Consolidated Government. I arrived punctually to the "Council Briefing Room". The "Council Briefing Room" consists of a large conference table surrounded by rather plush chairs. There were only three of us present; it was a little weird to be in such a large room for the adjudication with just the three of us. They had a projector set up and they were using a small tape recorder to record the proceedings.

The other two men present were Greg Williams and Lee Carver. Greg

informed me that he is an assistant district attorney without much to do and Lee Carver was the representative from the Department of Traffic and Transportation. Greg was the adjudicator and Lee was there to answer any questions I had regarding the traffic camera system and how it works. I sat down and pulled out my sketchbook and the notice of violation that I had received in the mail. They asked me to raise my right arm and say I'd tell the truth. There was no bible involved, so they didn't ask me to swear to tell the truth. I was kind of hoping to get to ask to swear on The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, no such luck.

Greg presented his case. They showed me pictures of car's license plate and a rather poor photo of me driving. I had on sunglasses and half my face was obscured by the rearview mirror. He asked me if that was my car and if that was me driving. They presented me with a statement of technology (.jpg) from Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. explaining how the system functions. I was then presented with three different Test Results

For In-road Sensor Audits (1 2 3 .pdf) showing that they had testing the sensors and that they were functioning properly around the time I got my ticket.

Test Results for In-road Sensor Audits are fairly technical and I'm not an engineer. They could have showed me the owner's manual to an Electrocardiogram in Japanese. What mattered is the government said they showed that the machinery was functional whether I could tell if it was or not. That was their case. Now it was my turn.

What I learned
I didn't have a case. I was just there to ask questions and collect information. Here is what I learned.

In order for you to get a speeding ticket you have to be going 8 mph over the speed limit or be going 32 in a 25.

Adjudicators are appointed by the Lafayette City Attorney.

The citations issued are considered a civil offence and don't count against your driving record.

They consider the guy reviewing the tape to be your accuser and you can confront him if you want. They also claimed that he has the same desecration a cop has in giving you a ticket. Just because you got pulled over/your picture taken doesn't mean you get a citation.

Someone reviews the tapes to decide whether or not to issue a citation. In my case it was Tony R. Tramel. You can request the person that reviewed your video be at your hearing.

The City of Lafayette pays Redflex $29.75 for each speeding violation that is 10mph over the limit

The City of Lafayette pays Redflex $15.50 for each violation that is 5-10 mph over the limit.

The City of Lafayette pays Redflex anywhere from $39.00 - $15.50 for each time a red light is run, depending on how many times a red light is run.

Third party collection agents are not used until after 90 days from the issuance of the citation.

The Helium Solution
I live in New Orleans and we have traffic cameras here as well. Everyone I've talked to about them would like to get rid of them. It seems pretty unlikely that the city is going to be removing them. Occasionally we discuss effective ways to render the cameras ineffective without damaging the city's property.

Paintball Gun - The first suggestion that might have fit the criteria was to use a paintball gun to cover the camera lens with paint. We can't be sure of the sturdiness of the little box that the camera sits. Remember we want to render the cameras ineffective, not break things.

Garbage Bag - We thought about putting garbage bags over the cameras, but there is an obvious flaw here. We would have to climb the poles or traffic light to get up there and put the bags over the lights. I don't have a truck with a cherry picker on the back, but I do have some friends who are fire fighters…

Bunch of Balloons - I think this is the best solution. Get a bunch of helium balloons, a long string and a weight from the store. Go to a traffic light and set the balloons down in front of the camera blocking its view. Walk away. It would be cheap. You wouldn't look sketchy doing it. It is easy to remove and nothing gets hurt.

RESOURCES
City of Lafayette's Contract with Redflex
Redflex's Statement of Technology (.jpg)
Test Results for In-Road Sensor Audits 1 2 3 (.pdf)