More than 73,000 SafeSpeed and SafeLight violation notices have been generated so far this year, according to a new report from Lafayette Consolidated Government.

The vast majority of the violations — 58,676 — were for speeding violations captured by a camera set up at one of 12 Lafayette intersections or by the speed vans. The intersection with the most violations in 2009 has been University Avenue at Simcoe Street, which has had 14,071 speeding violations this year.

However, that number has steadily decreased, from a high of 2,716 speeding violations at that intersection in January to just 196 in October.

The two speed vans that are parked throughout Lafayette have generated 4,653 speeding violation notices so far this year.

Another 15,091 violation notices have been printed in 2009 for drivers who have been captured running a red light. Of those, 4,666 have come from the camera at the intersection of Ambassador Caffery Parkway and Congress Street. Another 3,971 have been generated from the camera at the corner of Camellia and Settlers Trace boulevards.

Through August, the number of paid violations has generated a total of $5.1 million, according to report. Of that amount, about $2.3 million has gone to Redflex Traffic Systems, which is the vendor for the programs. Some of that money goes to pay Redflex employees and support personnel, and the company also is responsible for the system's equipment, development, implementation and processing of the electronic images.

The remaining $2.8 million has gone to Lafayette Consolidated Government, according to the report. By its own ordinance, the money LCG receives from the SafeSpeed and SafeLight programs must go into a special traffic-safety fund, which can be used only for the programs and education related to the programs or to traffic.

Redflex and LCG use a tiered system to determine how much each entity will receive in violation funds. A red-light running violation has a $125 penalty, and Redflex receives $39 per notice for the first 150 paid violations per approach per month. Their amount decreases as the number of violations increases.

Last month, the City-Parish Council agreed to reduce the penalty for a right-turn-on-red violation to $25, of which LCG will receive $17.20 and Redflex will receive $7.80.

For speeding violations, Redflex receives $15.50 per paid notice if a vehicle is traveling five to 10 miles per hour over the speed limit, and $29.75 per notice for vehicles traveling more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

Since the SafeLight program began in January 2008, the number of crashes at intersections with those cameras has declined from 157 to 46, according to the report. That represents a 71 percent reduction.

"The reduction of traffic crashes appears to reflect a significant positive improvement in driver behavior, which was originally identified as the principal purpose of the SafeLight/SafeSpeed programs," LCG Traffic and Transportation Director Tony Tramel wrote in the report.

Similar reports are expected to be provided every six months.