How much is a speeding ticket in Louisiana?
set by the local courtcourt-set
15 mph over the limit, first offense — the full arithmetic is on this page.
Louisiana has no statewide fine amount for ordinary speeding: each local court sets its own schedule. What IS uniform statewide — the caps, the mandatory add-ons, the points — is decomposed on this page, and where only your court can name the final figure, the page says so instead of inventing one. For 15 mph over the limit, the honest answer is set by the local court — the page decomposes what is knowable statewide instead of inventing a total. What raises it: construction zone or utility work safety zone (workers on site); designated highway safety corridor; huey p. long bridge / lake pontchartrain causeway (gnoec-policed). Points: Louisiana has no demerit-point system: the OMV's 143-page official Class D & E Driver's Guide contains no point schedule, the OMV FAQ contains no point entries, and the Official Driving Record lists violations, suspensions, and convictions rather than points. License actions flow from specific offenses and records, not point accumulation. Every row on this page carries its citation — 5 primary sources (statute text, court fine schedules, DMV publications), each with a retrieval date, plus the local-variation caveat that applies in Louisiana. This is a reference to what the law and the schedules print; it is not legal advice.
How Louisiana sets it Louisiana's traffic statute sets one cap for nearly everything: a first violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $175 (plus up to 30 days), with the actual amount set by the city, parish, or district court that handles the ticket — and each of those courts also sets its own court costs, so totals differ parish to parish. The mph number matters mostly for procedure and zones: at 15 or more over, the statute removes the mail-in plea-and-pay path; in signed work zones with workers on site the fine becomes $500–$1,000.
The fine, tier by tier
| Speed over the limit | Base fine | What you actually owe | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–14 mph over the limit | up to $175 cap only | set by the local court court-set | La. R.S. 32:57(A)(1) First-violation cap: not more than $175 or imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both, unless otherwise specifically provided; a subsequent violation is capped at $500 or 90 days. Written-promise-to-appear and pay-by-mail procedures established under R.S. 32:57(C)-(D) are available at these speeds unless another exclusion applies. |
| 15 or more mph over the limit | up to $175 cap only | set by the local court court-set | La. R.S. 32:57(A)(1), (E)(2) Same first-violation fine cap — but R.S. 32:57(E) makes the written-promise and pay-by-mail procedures inapplicable to citations for exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph or more (and for speeding in a school zone), so handling is per the court named on the citation. |
- state-set state law or a statewide schedule fixes this number.
- cap only the statute sets a ceiling; the court picks the amount within it.
- court-set no statewide number exists — the local court’s schedule decides.
The mandatory add-ons
These attach on top of whatever fine the court sets:
| Add-on | How it is computed | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Court costs (set by each city, parish, or district court) | A convicted defendant is liable for all costs of the prosecution or proceeding; the amounts are set court by court and no statewide flat cost for ordinary speeding was sourced (the state crime-victims fund cost excludes ordinary traffic violations) | La. C.Cr.P. art. 887(A) |
Worked example: 15 mph over the limit, first offense
| Line | Amount | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Fine — set by the court, statutory ceiling | $175 | La. R.S. 32:57(A)(1) |
| Where it lands | set by the local court court-set |
The fine line is a CEILING, not a price: the statute caps a first violation at $175 and the city, parish, or district court sets the actual figure, with its own court costs on top — there is no single statewide total to print. At exactly 15 over, the statute also removes the pay-by-mail path (R.S. 32:57(E)(2)), so the citation is handled through the court rather than a mailed payment. In a signed construction or utility work zone with workers on site, the same speed carries a $500–$1,000 fine instead.
What raises it
- Construction zone or utility work safety zone (workers on site). Speeding — or breaching the zone — on a portion of highway under active construction, maintenance, or repair with construction or utility workers on site carries a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000. (La. R.S. 32:57(H))
- Designated highway safety corridor. Violating the traffic chapter on a highway portion designated as a highway safety corridor under R.S. 32:267 carries a fine of not less than $750 nor more than $1,000, or imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both, unless otherwise specifically provided. (La. R.S. 32:57(I))
- Huey P. Long Bridge / Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (GNOEC-policed). A motor vehicle offense cited on these bridges or their approaches by Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission police carries an additional $5 cost, deposited into the state treasury — the statute is still on the books and appears to still be collected, but see caveats: Louisiana's own State Law Institute has repeatedly told the legislature this specific $5 cost is likely unconstitutional as written. (La. R.S. 32:57(G))
License points
Louisiana has no demerit-point system: the OMV's 143-page official Class D & E Driver's Guide contains no point schedule, the OMV FAQ contains no point entries, and the Official Driving Record lists violations, suspensions, and convictions rather than points. License actions flow from specific offenses and records, not point accumulation.
Convictions appear on the Official Driving Record, which reports violations (including major and minor traffic violations), suspensions, and convictions and indicates the status of driving privileges. (La. OMV — Official Driving Record (expresslane.la.gov); La. OMV Class D & E Driver's Guide)
When a court appearance is required
The written-promise-to-appear and plead-and-pay-by-mail procedures of R.S. 32:57(C)-(D) do NOT apply when the citation alleges exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph or more, exceeding the limit in a school zone, DWI, driving with a suspended license, drag racing, no compulsory security, an injury accident, or the same offense twice within one hour — those citations are handled through the court. (La. R.S. 32:57(E), (F))
Local variation — the honest caveat
Both the fine (within the $175/$500 caps) and the court costs are set by the individual city, parish, or district court — Louisiana localities run their own traffic dockets, and C.Cr.P. art. 887 makes a convicted defendant liable for the costs each court fixes. Identical tickets in different parishes routinely produce different totals; some courts also operate one-time-appearance procedures under R.S. 32:57(C)(2). (La. R.S. 32:57(C), (D); La. C.Cr.P. art. 887(A))
- No statewide flat court cost for ordinary speeding exists to itemize: the crime-victims reparations cost (R.S. 46:1816) is levied 'in each criminal action, except traffic violations other than those driving offenses defined in Title 14,' which excludes ordinary speeding.
- The legis.la.gov header note about the Unconstitutional Statutes Biennial Report traces to Subsection G ONLY (the $5 GNOEC bridge/causeway cost above) — not the fine caps in this table. State v. Lanclos, 980 So. 2d 643 (La. 2008), held the $5 cost an unconstitutional tax funded through the judiciary because it financed police salaries and equipment. A 2012 amendment (Acts 2012, No. 834) removed the earmarked fund that paid police salaries, but paragraph G(1) — the sentence that actually imposes the $5 charge — was never amended. The Louisiana State Law Institute's Unconstitutional Statutes Biennial Reports have flagged R.S. 32:57(G) in every edition since 2016 (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024); the 2024 edition concludes 'it is likely that R.S. 32:57(G) as presently written remains unconstitutional under the Lanclos court's decision' and recommends the legislature 'repeal R.S. 32:57(G) in its entirety' — a recommendation the legislature has not acted on as of this build. The rest of R.S. 32:57 (the $175/$500 fine caps in Subsection A, the work-zone fine in H, the highway-safety-corridor fine in I) is not implicated by Lanclos and carries no such flag.
- R.S. 32:57(B): when the violator is not an individual, there is no imprisonment but a double fine is imposed.
- Failure to pay a mailed fine and to appear can draw an additional penalty of up to the amount of the original fine (R.S. 32:57(D)).
Sources
Every figure above was compiled from these sources, with a verbatim quote of the sentence carrying each number stored in the dataset so any row can be re-checked against its origin.
- La. R.S. 32:57 — Penalties; alternatives to citation (official text, Louisiana State Legislature)
retrieved 2026-07-17
https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/LawPrint.aspx?d=88472 - La. C.Cr.P. art. 887 — Defendant's liability for costs (official text, Louisiana State Legislature)
retrieved 2026-07-17
https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/LawPrint.aspx?d=112871 - Louisiana State Law Institute — Unconstitutional Statutes Biennial Report to the Legislature (2024 edition), entry for R.S. 32:57
retrieved 2026-07-17 · 2024 edition
https://lsli.org/files/reports/2024/2024%20Unconstitutional%20Statutes%20Biennial%20Report.pdf - Louisiana OMV — Official Driving Record (expresslane.la.gov)
retrieved 2026-07-17
https://expresslane.la.gov/omv/drivers/personal-driver-s-licenses/official-driving-record/ - Louisiana OMV — Class D & E Driver's Guide (official publication, LADPSC document distribution)
retrieved 2026-07-17
https://public.powerdms.com/LADPSC/documents/347039
This is not legal advice This page republishes what Louisiana's statutes, court fine schedules, and driver-licensing publications print, for reference. Amounts change on legislative cycles, and the court named on a citation is the authority on what is owed in that court. Nothing here is advice about any citation or case.