Iowa lawmakers set to consider traffic camera ban

If lawmakers take the first step Wednesday toward banning automated traffic cameras in Iowa, authorities will have to figure out quickly how best to enforce laws they say are critical to the public's safety.

The Iowa Senate Judiciary Subcommittee is set to discuss a bill seeking to outlaw any 'automated or remote systems for traffic law enforcement.” The measure, introduced by Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, would require officials to cease automated enforcement of traffic laws by July.

In Cedar Rapids, that would spell the end to speed cameras at four locations on Interstate 380 and red-light and speed cameras at three signalized intersections. The Iowa Department of Transportation already told the city to modify its automated camera system, but the city is in court over it.

This week, Cedar Rapids spokeswoman Maria Johnson said the city believes public discussions about what it would do should the proposed legislative ban become law are 'premature.”

Cedar Rapids City Manager Jeff Pomeranz already told city leaders not to expect traffic camera revenue - $3 to $3.5 million - to be part of the fiscal 2018 budget.

'Our data shows that use of automated traffic enforcement has reduced the severity of accidents in Cedar Rapids, including significant reductions in the severity of crashes on 380 through the S curve,” he said in a recent statement to The Gazette. 'Should the state require cameras to be removed, we expect an alternate solution to address the very real safety concerns both to the public and to our public safety personnel.”

Such a solution, though, appears elusive.

'It's virtually impossible to do speed enforcement in those sections” of I-380, said Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, who is president this year of the Iowa State Sheriffs' and Deputies' Assocation. 'It's so hazardous. People don't slow down. The S-curves, they just compound the difficulty. You'll just see speeds come up, which means more crashes will happen. It's that simple.”

Iowa State Patrol Trooper Bob Conrad said the patrol neither supports nor opposes the proposed ban, but agrees traffic enforcement in high volume, high speed areas poses challenges.

'Any time you have those high volumes of traffic, there is concern for officer safety, safety of the motorists, safety for every one,” he said.

And Conrad noted the state patrol already is stretched thin.

'If there are more crashes, we need more troopers,” he said. 'We need more troopers now. We're already short-staffed.”

Between January 2007 and when speed cameras were installed on I-380 in 2010, there were 213 crashes on the interstate within the city limits, a 2016 report to the Iowa Department of Transportation shows. Of those, 92 resulted injuries and three in fatalities.

Since the cameras went up and through 2015, the city saw a similar number of crashes - 210 - but over a longer period of time. Of those crashes, 58 resulted in injuries and none in fatalities. A crash in November 2016 that killed two and injured two Cedar Rapids police officers ended that streak.

The ACLU of Iowa supports a ban for a variety of reasons.

Policy counsel Daniel Zeno said automated cameras are not effective in identifying repeat offenders, lack a 'flesh and blood” officer's discretion and can't protect against dangers such as drunken driving.

The ACLU also has due process concerns, he said, noting that it's the owner of the vehicle - not necessarily the driver - who gets ticketed.

The Iowa League of Cities is among organizations opposed to a ban.

'It becomes a danger not only to the officers, but also to the people driving, to try to initiate traffic stops in order to enforce the speed limit,” Executive Director Alan Kemp Kemp said. 'At least with the speed camera, and the signs that provide the warning, you get to slow people down.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8238; lee.hermiston@thegazette.com