Abbeville may soon have speed cameras

Anyone driving through Lafayette during the last few years has surely noticed speed cameras placed at various intersections throughout the city.
The same cameras may soon be spotted in Abbeville.
The Abbeville City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday to enter into negotiations with Redflex Traffic Systems, the company that provides the service to Lafayette, as well as Baker and Westwego, among others.
“There’s so many reasons why I would like to see it come to Abbeville,” Abbeville Police Chief Tony Hardy said during Tuesday’s meeting. “Number one is that it would make Abbeville so much safer.”
Charlie Buckels, a representative with the Redflex office in Lafayette, attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak to the council. Buckels echoed Hardy’s comments on the speed cameras creating a level of safety.
“What we are talking about is a force multiplier for your police department that can improve public safety,” Buckels said.
Buckels said, once the city council takes all of its necessary legal steps, the system could take four or five months to be completely up and running.
Buckels offered details of how the company would integrate its system into the city.
“We are going to do some surveys at a number of your intersections,” Buckels said. “We would install a system at the intersections that have the most need. You would also get a mobile speed unit to put wherever you see fit.”
If it sound pricey for the city, it is not.
“What is it going to cost the city?” Buckels said of the most frequently asked questions. “I’m happy to tell you that it will not cost the city one penny out of pocket.”
Redflex takes care of installation and maintenance of the equipment.
“There is never a time when the city is going to spend money on this,” Buckels said. “People always talk about the cost of public safety. It would be great that if throughout public safety, the person committing the crime would pay for public safety.
“Here is one way that can be done. The only people who pay for it are those who actually create the violations.”
The camera would capture images of drivers violating the set speed limit of an intersection, as well as those entering the intersection after the light has turned red.
“We would set all of that up according to what your police department wants,” Buckels said. “They will tell us what a red-light violations is defined by. A person would never receive a ticket unless they enter the intersection after the light has turned red. As for speed violations, the city sets up the threshold of how many miles over.”
If the police department, after reviewing the recording deems it a violation, a fine will be mailed. Redflex would collect a percentage of the violation, with the remainder going to the city.
Buckels said anyone who receives a violation can review the footage on the web.
The city council would have to pass an ordinance for any of this to take place.
“You would have to pass a civil ordinance for there to be photo enforcement of certain traffic violations,” Buckels said, “such as speeding and red light running. Those are the two main things.
“You will have full-time enforcement.”
Buckels said that is the key.
“The way to change driver behavior is to have full-time enforcement,” Buckels said. “In Lafayette, in the enforced intersections, we have reduced crashed by 65 percent. Lafayette has told us that.”
Buckles said a 50-percent reduction can be expected within eight months of implementation.
Hardy said his department worked more than 817 crashes in the city in 2013.
“That’s a lot of crashes for a small town like this,” Hardy said.
The reported reduction percentages could have a significant impact on the city.
“It is down 75 percent in Baker and 65 percent in Lafayette,” Councilman Brady Broussard Jr., District C, said. “If you take that 65 percent, you are going to go from 817 in 2013, to 286.
“That is a huge reduction in the possible loss of life.”
Hardy said he could not agree more with Broussard’s last statement.
“That is the main thing right there,” Hardy said. “If it saves one life, it is worth it to me.”
Councilman Francis Touchet Jr., District B, asked if the system can prove its worth in strategic ways that help public safety in other areas.
“Is this going to help us to take officers away from (crash problem) areas to focus on patrolling?” Touchet asked.
That will definitely be the case, according to the chief.
“I am putting a lot of time and effort into working crashes,” Hardy said. “That is time that could be spent patrolling other areas as needed.”
The speed cameras can pull double duty as a tool in solving other crimes.
“You had a major homicide solved in Lafayette a few years ago,” Hardy said. “One of the major players in solving the homicide was Redflex.
“There is so much that these cameras can do for Abbeville.”