This section limits when local municipal or parish authorities may use automated speed enforcement or mobile speed cameras for mailed citations, and it bars criminal fines, fees, and credit bureau reporting from that process.
§47. Use of speed recording devices; restrictions A. Automated speed enforcement devices or mobile speed cameras that are used to issue a citation of an alleged violation by mail shall only be used by local municipal authorities or local parish authorities in the following instances: (1) The device or camera is being operated by a trained member of law or traffic enforcement that are sworn or P.O.S.T.-certified. Deputized agents, contractors, subcontractors of an agency, office, local municipality, local authority, or any political subdivision of this state are strictly prohibited from operating handheld or manned devices for the purpose of issuing a citation violation by mail. (2) The device or camera is in a school zone lawfully posted in accordance with this Subsection. (3) There are forty-eight-inch by forty-eight-inch signs, the bottom of which shall be at least seven feet from the ground, indicating that a device or camera is present, no less than five hundred feet and no more than one thousand feet before the device or camera, in a manner as to be clearly visible to approaching traffic. The signs shall be bright yellow and shall read "Photo enforcement devices at use". (4) Upon the entrance to each school zone, there shall be painted a two- foot-wide yellow stripe completely across the roadway with "Entering School Zone" painted in twelve-inch white lettering visible therein. (5) Two hundred feet before the entrance to each school zone, there shall be painted a two-foot-wide yellow stripe completely across the roadway with "School Zone Ahead" painted in twelve-inch white lettering visible therein. (6) Local municipal authorities or local parish authorities shall post signs, indicating that an automated speed enforcement device camera is present, within two hundred feet of the school zone, in such a manner as to be clearly visible to traffic approaching the school zone. (7)(a) If a device or camera is used while in an authorized vehicle, the authorized vehicle shall be clearly marked as a law enforcement vehicle. (b) If a device or camera is used by a traffic or law enforcement officer while not in a vehicle, the officer shall wear a reflective vest, clearly indicating that the officer is law enforcement or that the officer is conducting speed enforcement measures. B. Criminal fines or fees shall not be imposed as a result of automated speed enforcement devices or mobile speed cameras for the purpose of issuing a citation violation by mail, nor shall failure to pay the citation result in reporting to any credit bureaus. C. In addition to any other remedy provided by law, the use of handheld, manned, or unmanned automated speed enforcement devices or mobile speed cameras that can be mounted in a vehicle or deployed at various locations to monitor and record the speed of passing traffic for the purpose of issuing a citation of an alleged violation by mail intentionally inconsistent with R.S. 32:43 et seq. shall be punishable as provided for in R.S. 14:134. Acts 2024, No. 103, §1, eff. May 21, 2024; Acts 2025, No. 107, §2.