Abbeville: One driver’s speed is ‘ridiculous’

In response to concerns from residents regarding speeding in the Godchaux Park area, Abbeville Chief of Police Mike Hardy recently had speeds measured over two weeks.
The good news is that there is not a large number of speeders. However, there is one driver traveling way too fast.
Hardy said Maurice Chief of Police Guy Nerren loaned the department a machine that measures both speed and time traveled. Hardy had that machine placed on South Main Street for one week and then on Fifth Street for another week.
“We had a resident at the last meeting complain about speeding on Main Street,” Hardy said during the Abbeville City Council meeting on June 17. “I want to thank Chief Nerren and the town of Maurice for loaning us their machine.”
Hardy explained that the machine counted and measured the speed of vehicles for a week on South Main Street and again for another week on Fifth Street. Hardy said 96% of the people drove under the speed limit on South Main Street, which is 25 miles per hour. On Fifth Street, 99% of drivers remained under the speed limit.
“On both of these weeks,” Hardy said, “we had one vehicle that drove extremely fast. We had 85 (miles per hour) one time on Main. The other was 75 on Fifth Street, which is ridiculous.”
Hardy said the vehicle had been described as a black sedan. 
“We have our officers looking for it,” Hardy said. “We’re hoping to get a license plate on one of our cameras. We have a tip that gives us an idea where the vehicle goes.”
Mayor Roslyn White pointed out that state law allows an arrest to be made.
“We can charge them with reckless operation,” Hardy responded. “They go to jail. This is dangerous. If anyone in the area sees someone driving excessively in that Godchaux area, contact the Abbeville Police Department.”