Harlan Kirgan
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz and Parish President Bill Fontenot collided over the use of speed bumps on the parish’s newly paved roads.
The speed bump discussion came during the Parish Council’s meeting Wednesday in Opelousas.
Guidroz said, “We have over 300 miles of ... blacktopped parish roads in this parish and I get complaints and phone calls every day about the speeders. I wish I had the manpower and the radars to address those issues, but I don’t,” he said.
“I think speed bumps in this parish are a necessity to help me control the speeders in the parish,” he said.
Fontenot said, “I would like to bring someone before you to the next full Council to tell you about the pros and cons of speed bumps and ordinances and their impacts on the public.”
The parish president, who retired as a state Department of Transportation and Development district engineer, has argued that speed bumps are not a good idea.
Councilman Ken Marks brought the speed issue up this month when he asked why speed bumps were not replaced after Midway Lane, in the Port Barre area, was resurfaced.
Legal counsel Garrett Duplechain explained the procedure for obtaining speeds bumps and said removing them requires the same procedure in reverse.
If speed bumps are proposed, residents are the road are to be surveyed and if 60 percent or more are in favor of the bumps, an opinion is to be sought from the public works director. The public works director and first responders must approve the speed bumps, then a public hearing must be held before final approval, he said.
Councilman Timmy Lejeune said in response to Fontenot’s statement, “If they want that speed bump on that road for a safety reason I don’t really care about the opinion.”
Marks said the citizens on Midway Lane did their part to obtain the speed bumps, but never acted to remove them. The remove came when the road was resurfaced.
“Don’t they have the right to have those reinstalled?” he asked.
Fontenot replied, they do, but “We have a right and real reason to do what is the safest thing to do.”
Guidroz said he assigned deputies to patrol on and the they clocked vehicles traveling at 90 mph in an area with houses and children in the Lewisburg area.
“That’s a safety issue for me. That’s enough justification in my mind to ask you to please replace these speed bumps,” he said.
Guidroz said if there is a traffic expert in the parish, he’s it.
“I spent 27 years in the Louisiana State Police and I had a radar in my car every day I worked. I can tell you I worked this parish and now that our roads are good, people are speeding,” he said.
The only voice on the Council backing Fontenot was Wayne Ardoin, a former Opelousas Police officer, who questioned whether speed bumps slow speeders down.
Ardoin said he has seen motorists stop at speed bumps and then “they’ll peel out right there.”
As for Midway Lane, the parish president said he plans to visit the road and people there.