BATON ROUGE — A Covington area state lawmaker wants the state to ban all traffic cameras in Louisiana.
State Rep. Paul Hollis, R-Covington, has filed House Bill 257, which would prohibit any parish or city from using cameras to issue tickets for speeding or other traffic violations.
If the bill becomes law, it would be a big hit for the city of New Orleans’ budget.
Traffic cameras have been a controversial topic for New Orleanians over the past few years.
According to city data, 3,500 traffic camera citations are issued a week in New Orleans, and 70 percent of them are for speeding.
By the end of this month, there will be 120 traffic cameras in New Orleans.
The city maintains that the traffic cameras are an effective way to change driver behavior and reduce speeds in neighborhoods and school zones. Nola.com reports that the city raked in $16 million from traffic camera tickets in 2016 – and plans to rake in another $24 million in 2017.
That’s up from $15.1 million in 2015.
