Louisiana’s Vidalia Targets Uptick in Traffic Accidents: 75 in 3 Months

Vidalia Police Chief Arthur Lewis says a planned crackdown on traffic violations in his city is aimed at trimming accident rates.

The Natchez Democrat reported that there have been 75 traffic accidents reported in Vidalia in the last three months.

Lewis said that is an unusually high number. He said his officers would begin more strictly enforcing traffic laws, such as speed limits, red lights and stop signs.

Lewis said the goal is safety — not extra revenue for his department.

“We’ve had an unusual amount of accidents on the highway and different parts of town, and that’s from people flying down that road,” Lewis said. “We get complaints all the time for citizens saying it’s a race track out there on the highway, and we have got to stop all these accidents.”

Five accidents have already occurred in May.

“We’re going to start enforcing the law and keep people safe on these streets,” Lewis said. “It’s just not safe out there the way some people are driving.”

Lewis said the stepped up effort means leniency that has been shown in some areas is going away.

For example, Lewis said his department has in the past allowed an approximate 10 to 15 mph leniency window for speeding offenses on a street where the speed limit is 35 mph.

That window will soon shrink he said.