Speed traps shouldn’t be main income source

I may agree that the state's attempt to control whether or not traffic cameras may be used in cities may be broad or vague. But the state should attempt some sort of leverage over the issue as local officials can abuse the use of them.

A few years back in southern Missouri, some small town that had a highway run through the town had a bridge that was built high up over a railroad as you came into town. The speed limit dropped from (something like) 65 mph to 25 mph on the way down from the bridge crossing without warning. And usually there was an officer with a speed trap set up at the bottom of the decline.

A state legislator passing through the town got burned by the speed trap. After receiving the citation, he looked at city hall records to discover that the town's revenue was nearly 90 percent income from traffic violations. He also found that the town of just a few hundred people employed four full-time officers and two part-time officers. He introduced legislation to limit communities from collecting no more that 45 percent of their revenue from traffic violations. After the bill became law, the lawmen of that small community turned in their badges. The jig was up.

So the state should make some effort to limit sources of revenue.

Jim Surratt

Iowa City