Ban on traffic cameras gets initial green light

DES MOINES - Public safety officials failed Wednesday in their initial attempt to slow legislators intent on banning traffic cameras that cities use to deter speeders and red-light runners.

Three members of a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee threw their support behind Senate File 3, a bill that would impose a statewide prohibition on the placement and use of automated or remote traffic enforcement systems.

'I think traffic cameras are there for one purpose and they're there to create the revenue,” said Sen. Rich Taylor, D-Mount Pleasant. 'I'm not in favor of them.”

However, an alternative measure allowing automated cameras in high-risk areas and directing profits to road projects is set to go to subcommittee Thursday.

Law officers, along with medical and emergency personnel from around the state, testified Wednesday that the use of automated cameras to control speed and monitor dangerous intersections has reduced the number of crashes, injuries and deaths in high-risk areas.

Cameras are in operation in Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Muscatine, Sioux City, Windsor Heights and Polk County.

'We have seen a definite change in behavior with the two traffic cameras that we have and the mobile speed cams,” said Kevin Schneider of the Polk County Sheriff's Department. 'We've also seen a reduction in the number of fatalities that we're having on the secondary roads, especially in the areas near the rural high schools out in the county.”

Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski said crashes are down 65 percent at his city's 18 camera locations, with one intersection going from the state's second-worst to 24th. 'That speaks to public safety and that is why we have the program,” he said.

Cedar Rapids Assistant Fire Chief Greg Smith said speeds, crashes and emergency responses on Interstate 380 are down dramatically thanks to traffic enforcement cameras. Des Moines police said the camera along Interstate 235 is in an area that's difficult to patrol and increases safety for officers who can focus on other enforcement duties.

Tim Crouch, a traffic engineer with the Iowa Department of Transportation, suggested the bill's wording was too broad because it could adversely affect other law enforcement devices, such as license plate readers checking for stolen cars or law violators. He said the language should be narrowed to deal only with cameras and devices that issue tickets electronically or by mail - a change bill sponsor Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, said he was willing to consider.

Sen. Tim Kapucian, R-Keystone, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he was formulating an alternative that would establish a framework in which all electronic traffic monitoring devices would be subject to Iowa DOT approval for placement only in high-crash or high-risk locations with proven safety needs.

Senate Study Bill 1019 would bar Iowa DOT itself from placing, operating, maintaining or employing electronic enforcement systems and would dedicate the profits after administrative and other costs to street repair or construction for the entities operating the cameras.

'I wanted to offer an option so it's not just totally no or totally yes,” Kapucian said Wednesday. 'Give an option and we'll see what happens - whether we end up regulating or whether we end up eliminating.”

l Comments: (515) 243-7220; rod.boshart@thegazette.com