Camera ban could move fast at the Statehouse

Cedar Rapids city leaders would appreciate it if legislators speeding to ban automated traffic enforcement cameras would, at the very least, pump the brakes.

'We're willing to have a conversation,” said City Manager Jeff Pomeranz, who told me he's even willing to consider handing the city's $3 million-plus share of yearly camera revenues over to the state road fund, if it would allow Cedar Rapids to keep its cameras operating.

He and other city leaders contend speed cameras on the I-380 S-curve downtown have made it safer, both by slowing down motorists and by sparing police officers from having to make as many traffic stops on the dicey curve. In November, a police vehicle stopped to investigate an accident was hit by another vehicle, killing its occupants and injuring officers.

'We will make the public safety case,” Pomeranz said.

So I asked state Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, the top lawmaker driving the ban effort, whether the city's revenue overture would make a difference.

'No,” Zaun told me, without deaccelerating.

'I would have to warn Jeff and Ron (Corbett) that I'm afraid the train is going down the tracks,” said Zaun, who already has filed his ban bill. He chairs the Judiciary Committee set to handle it.

That warning has been received, even though city leaders have yet to have a conversation with Zaun directly. Pomeranz will not include any camera revenue in the city's Fiscal Year 2018 budget.

Zaun wants a statewide ban on all automated traffic control systems, including speed and red light cameras. He's unwilling to carve out any exceptions, so Cedar Rapids' local safety arguments are moot. He's says he's got the votes, and he's probably right. Former Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal isn't around to stop it.

I won't shed a single tear when the cameras go dark. I've never been a big fan. But the vast majority of local readers I've talked with or heard from over the years take far more issue with dashing through the city 12 mph or more over the speed limit than with automated policing. Also, it's never been much of a local election issue here. But Zaun says he's received 'hundreds” of messages from Cedar Rapids-area residents thanking him for his efforts.

Certainly, the city has weakened its own hand. Predictions that, over time, tickets and revenues would dwindle, as driver behavior changed, haven't panned out. When the Department of Transportation directed the city to make reasonable changes in its system, the city went to court. And the cameras hardly have been a reputation enhancer for 'Speeder Trapids.”

But a Statehouse rush job would be reckless. Iowa saw at least 400 traffic fatalities in 2016, a sharp increase, with speed among multiple factors. We've heard lawmakers and union leaders lament a shortage of state troopers to patrol our highways. If automated enforcement is banned, a fair question for lawmakers is what else have you got?

I might also make a pitch for local control, if it wasn't already dead as a doornail.

So the camera era is cruising toward its end. Don't expect brake lights.

' Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com