Iowa City headed toward red-light cameras

IOWA CITY – Iowa City is on the road toward adding red-light cameras at several intersections.

A final decision likely is still months away, but at a work session tonight a clear majority of City Council members said they wanted city staff to work on an ordinance allowing for the cameras and to negotiate with vendors to set up the system.

“I think that there is a real safety concern here,” council member Regenia Bailey said.

Some council members, including Bailey, said they did not like the idea of adding the cameras but felt the technology would improve public safety. Only council member Connie Champion spoke against the cameras.

Council members said they were not interested in speed cameras for now.

Transportation planner John Yapp said it would take several months to negotiate a contract. The typical arrangement has private companies install and maintain the camera system, while a local police officer reviews possible violations. The ticket revenue is split between the company and the city.

Staff did not have a formal recommendation on the number of cameras that would be installed, but Yapp said he would like to see five to seven, with most of them in the downtown area and another at the Highway 6-Sycamore Street intersection.

Several Iowa communities have already installed traffic-enforcement cameras, whose use has been controversial and even ended up before the Iowa Supreme Court.

Critics say the cameras are an invasion of privacy and a money grab by local governments desirous of the ticket revenue.

Supporters say the cameras are a public safety measure. One of those fans is Cedar Rapids Police Chief Greg Graham, who attended an Iowa City Council meeting in March and said red-light and speed cameras contributed to a drop in collisions and caused motorists to drive more safely in his town.

“I think the Cedar Rapids model is a success story at doing just that, modifying driver behavior,” said Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine.

Council member Terry Dickens said he's already started to drive more cautiously since the council first broached the topic in March.

“And I think that's maybe as big as any ticket, you make people think,” he said.

Iowa City transportation planners this spring monitored 10 intersections with a high number of complaints and found that 0.6 percent of vehicles ran a red light during morning and evening commutes. That translated into an estimate of more than 100 violations over a 24-hour period at some intersections.

Champion said another way of looking at it was 99 percent of motorists obeyed the law.

But Mike Wright and other council members said they were also thinking about bicyclists and pedestrians, particularly in the crowded area near downtown. The two monitored intersections with the highest number of red-light violations also had the highest number of pedestrians.

“Cars hitting pedestrians at even a relatively low speed, somebody's hurt,” Wright said.