BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- State Senator Troy Hebert of Jeanerette says cameras that take pictures of cars that run red lights should not be aimed at the front of the vehicles and show the driver and passengers.
Hebert's bill, which was approved by the Senate Local and Municipal Affairs Committee yesterday, would limit Redflex, the company contracted by Lafayette and several other Louisiana cities to catch red-light runners, to taking photos of only the backs of cars as they drive through intersections when the traffic light is red.
Hebert says he considers it a "total invasion of privacy" for the government to photograph drivers and their passengers and a photo of the license plate is all that is necessary to identify a vehicle.
Hebert's bill originally had a provision that would prevent the companies from working on a contingency basis, which means they receive a portion of the proceeds from every citation that is issued. The committee voted to strip that provision because sharing the proceeds is how cities pay for the companies' services.
Charlie Buckels, a regional sales representative for Redflex, says only the technicians who process the information gathered on cameras ever see the passengers in vehicles. Passengers are whited out when the photos are submitted to the police department for review and the police decide whether a ticket is issued.
