The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office has ordered the contractor that operates the parish’s speed van to dismiss 2,488 speeding tickets issued to drivers on Interstate 12, says Perry Rushing, chief operations officer for the sheriff’s office.
All of the tickets were issued in late January and early February near mile marker 15, Rushing said, where the speed limit drops from 70 mph to 60 mph. After receiving several complaints from ticketed drivers, the sheriff’s office reviewed all of the tickets issued during the first nine days the van was in service and determined the van operator had set up too close to the speed-zone change.
“There was some confusion out there,” Rushing says, referring to the exact point at which the speed limit changes. Drivers who already paid their tickets will get refunds, he says.
The parish’s speed van is owned by Redflex Traffic Systems of Arizona, part of the Australian company Redflex Holdings. Redflex has photo enforcement contracts in more than 230 U.S. cities in 20 states.
The Livingston Parish van began issuing tickets Jan. 26. A Redflex employee, not a law enforcement officer, operates the van. According to sheriff’s office records, as of Sunday, the company issued 4,111 speeding tickets in Livingston Parish.—Chuck Hustmyre
