Cameras fair; are streets safer?

In their first few months of operation, traffic cameras in Cedar Rapids have snagged a virtual “who's who” of local leaders.

Police officers, city and county officials, political candidates, members of the media and local sports teams - all were driving or owned vehicles accounting for some of the 7,000 speeding and red-light citations issued from March through June.

The fact that the traffic cameras are ticketing people from all walks of life demonstrates to us that the laws are being fairly enforced.

As Cedar Rapids Police Chief Greg Graham recently told a Gazette reporter: “Nobody's immune from these things.”

That's the way it should be. Now we need convincing evidence that the cameras are creating a safer environment on our city streets.

After all, safety is the primary reason city councilors voted to install cameras in the first place: reduce the number of right-angled crashes and injuries, and change driver behavior.

Even though a handful of other Iowa Cities use traffic cameras, and the state Supreme Court ruled such cameras do not violate state law, the system remains controversial. Hard numbers are needed to calm critics and assuage resident fears that the cameras are just a government money grab.

Profits from the tickets - more than $1,000 a day so far - go into the city's general fund, tracked as revenue for the Police Department.

Cedar Rapids police Captain Steve O'Konek told us there are some indications the cameras are working to improve safety on our streets.

Although police don't yet have intersection-specific numbers, citywide, from January through July, the total number of accidents were down 8 percent from the same time last year.

A speed camera installed on Interstate 380 has resulted in a 62 percent reduction in violations at that location, and with the addition of another northbound speed camera, expected to come online in mid-August, Cedar Rapids will have the country's first camera-controlled speed zone, O'Konek said.

“I think the data will back it up when we get it, but right now it's just the perception that we're having some success there,” he said.

Hard numbers are coming. Researchers at the Center for Transportation Research and Education at Iowa State University began collecting baseline data before the red light and speed cameras went live. O'Konek told us police, too, are curious to see data that will show what impact the traffic cameras have had on safety.

A 2007 report by the Iowa State University group found that red light cameras reduced crashes related to drivers running red lights, and crashes overall, at intersections in Davenport and Council Bluffs.

We're anxious to see how the numbers play out in Cedar Rapids.