‘Selling my car to pay the ticket,’ rages driver charged $1k for minor mistakes – specific road has double fines | 92I449I | 2024-04-29 12:08:01
'Selling my car to pay the ticket,' rages driver charged $1k for minor mistakes – specific road has double fines | 92I449I | 2024-04-29 12:08:01
DRIVERS are facing a harsh ticket reality after receiving over $1,000 speeding tickets in the mail.
One motorist said he planned to sell his cars in order to pay off an automated speeding fine on a popular stretch of road.
In 2022, Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill that mounted speeding cameras along the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge.
The bridge is the third-longest in the US, spanning over 18 miles of swampy terrain.
Due to its length and location, the bridge serves as a key link in the interstate highway system, connecting the eastern and western parts of Louisiana.
Lawmakers prioritized safety on the bridge, allowing private speed camera companies to contract with local municipalities along it.
But drivers have reported the cameras come with exorbitant fines, according to local ABC affiliate KATC.
"If you caught me speeding, you caught me speeding, just pay the regular ticket price," Ben Robin, a refrigerator tech, told the station.
"I shouldn't have to pay $1,000 and have to sell the car to pay the ticket."
Drivers on the bridge who get their first speeding ticket can face fines up to $350.
A second speeding offense can force up to $1,000 out of a driver's pockets.
The State Senate is debating a rule that could change the rates on the speed-capturing cameras.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> Republican State Senator Blake Miguez proposed a new bill to repeal the doubled speeding fines on the bridge.
"I received unanimous support in both the Senate committee and the Senate floor," Miguez boasted.
Currently, the state law has supported a partial privatization of speeding laws on the roadway.
Speed camera companies who built the road tech get a share of the profits from the fine collection.
<!--googleoff: all--> <blockquote class="article__quote"> </blockquote> <!--googleon: all--> Local governments get the other part of the fine pot.
Miguez worried that the expansion of fine recipients led to increasing driver costs.
He said the highway deserved a repeal of the 2022 double-speed fine bill, saying, "It's just not a policy that people supported."
Miguez's proposal, currently named SB 379, is awaiting debate on the State's Senate floor.
Until any passage of new laws, drivers should expect to find dozens of speeding cameras and subsequent warning signs posted along the long highway.
More >> https://ift.tt/bYnZwqW Source: MAG NEWS
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