Henderson is no speed trap!

As the Teche News goes to press, the Louisiana Legislature was settling the question of which communities are operating a “speed trap.”

House Bill 961 by state Rep. Steve E. Pylant of Winnsboro includes this definition:

“Any local governing authority which derives more than 50 percent of its income or revenue generated from traffic citations issued for violation of speed limit laws or speed-related ordinances shall be designated as a ‘speed trap’.”

Henderson Mayor Sherbin Collette has steadfastly, and sometimes quite passionately, disputed the notion that his town is operating a speed trap even though revenues from traffic fines have risen substantially since the town annexed the strip of Interstate 10 from the Atchafalaya Basin to the “Henderson exit” back in 2005 and began patrolling it for traffic violators.

The Teche News has crunched the numbers through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013 – the last audit available – and it shows that Mayor Collette is right. Under the provisions of HB 961, the Town of Henderson is not a speed trap.

Not any more.

Total revenues, including grants and money made by the sewer system, were $1,805,068 for FY 2013, while fines and forfeitures totaled $705,383 – only 39 percent of the total.

According to our review of past audit reports, the only times Henderson has been a speed trap under the criteria of the pending legislation were FY 2012, when traffic fines ($888,363) constituted 56.6 percent of total revenue ($1,569,448), and FY 2010, $987,503 in fines and forfeitures out of $1,622,975 revenues or 60.8 percent.

See the accompanying chart for an idea of the impact on the town’s coffers of both the I-10 annexation and the creation of a municipal sewer system, which went online at the end of 2006.

There are several bills addressing speed traps in the legislature this year, all still in flux at this juncture. Their potential impact is that speed traps would have to identify themselves to approaching motorists with signs and flashing lights, have to share speed-trap gains with the state, or perhaps cease and desist altogether.

Henderson Police Chief Leroy Guidry says his department’s enforcement of speed laws on I-10 is a matter of public safety, not revenue. He notes that there were seven fatal accidents in that stretch over eight years, all in the westbound lane.

“They have 16 miles to slow down (before entering the Henderson Police Department’s enforcement zone),” he said. “The speed limit on the bridge is 60 miles and hour and they come off at 80 and 90.

“I clocked one at 165 miles an hour!” he said.

Guidry and another officer are facing criminal charges about how officers were compensated for writing tickets on I-10, and there’s a civil suit pending filed by the recipient of an HPD traffic ticket.