Lafayette, LA Mobility & Curb Rules: Red-Light Cameras (2026)

Section 86-178 lets the city-parish council impose a civil, not criminal, penalty of $125.00 on the registered owner of a vehicle that a photographic traffic signal enforcement system captures proceeding into an intersection on a steady red signal. A driver who stops before cautiously turning right on red, yielding to pedestrians and other traffic, is exempt from that penalty but still owes $25.00 if the stop-then-turn requirement isn't followed. Unpaid penalties balloon by a 1.5x late fee if not paid within 40 calendar days of the mailed notice under § 86-178(d).

Enforcement runs through the police department, which can contract with a vendor, under § 86-179; recipients get a notice describing the violation, a recorded image, the fine amount and payment deadline, and the right to an administrative adjudication hearing under § 86-180, with eleven listed affirmative defenses including malfunctioning signals, emergency-vehicle yielding, funeral processions, and stolen plates. A companion program under division 2, §§ 86-184 through 86-190, uses photographic vehicle speed enforcement systems at intersections or fixed roadway segments. Section 86-185 sets tiered civil fines by how far over the limit a vehicle is clocked: in posted school zones, fines run from $25.00 up to $300.00 for the highest speed bracket; outside school zones, fines run $25.00 up to $150.00.

Speed cameras are deployed at the director's discretion, prioritized for school zones or in response to citizen requests for location-specific enforcement, per § 86-185(c). All penalties collected under both programs are deposited into a dedicated traffic safety fund under § 86-183, spent first on system costs and then on traffic-safety programs, intersection improvements, driver education and dedicated traffic police.