New bill would regulate, not eliminate Iowa traffic enforcement cameras

DES MOINES - Top law officers in Iowa's largest cities Thursday urged state lawmakers not to take away traffic enforcement cameras that have proved to be effective tools in reducing deaths, injuries and crashes on some of the state's most-dangerous streets and highways.

'The evidence shows that these cameras are effective in reducing these speed-related collisions,” said Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman. 'These tools work, these tools help prevent people from dying.”

Jerman was among the law officers who returned to the Capitol for a second straight day to testify on legislation designed to rein in electronic traffic devices - but this time, the bill was not an outright ban. Rather, Senate Study Bill 1019 would subject camera deployments to state approval and direct profits to infrastructure improvements within the jurisdictions operating cameras that issue revenue-generating tickets.

The bill, which cleared a Senate Transportation subcommittee 3-0, would establish a framework whereby all electronic traffic monitoring devices would be subject to approval by the state Department of Transportation for placement in high-crash or high-risk locations with demonstrated safety needs. It also would dedicate any profits, after administrative and other costs, to street repair or construction for the entities where the revenue was being generated, but committee members indicated they favored modifying the language to give more flexibility and local control over money decisions.

'This bill provides an avenue for discussion to come up with something that we think is fair,” said subcommittee chairman Sen. Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan, noting the measure allowed for balancing citizen liberties with public safety.

'I felt we needed to have an alternative to zero cameras, because safety is real. I appreciate the folks who have concerns about liberty, but there's also a lot of folks who need the liberty of being able to drive down the road without being hit,” added Zumbach, a farmer who lives north of Cedar Rapids and has driven trucks loaded with grain through downtown Cedar Rapids on Interstate 380 where speed cameras were installed along the highway's 'S curve” in 2010.

'What I can tell is that I'm no longer fearful. The hair on my arm no longer stands up when I go through there scared to death with an 80,000-pound truck with little cars zipping in and around you,” Zumbach told Thursday's meeting participants. '(Interstate) 380 is a safer environment because of those cameras.”

Jerman and Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said traffic cameras free up officers for other enforcement duties and provide enforcement in difficult highway stretches where traditional enforcement is too dangerous for officers and motorists.

With more than 400 traffic deaths in Iowa last year, Wingert told subcommittee members 'I shudder to think why we would take a step backward in the tools we use to calm the traffic.”

Subcommittee member Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, said he has modified his driving habits due to enforcement cameras in his city. He also said he has heard complaints from people who say they've received numerous tickets from Cedar Rapids with no early warning. He offered a suggestion the city first issue a warning before starting to assess multiple tickets.

'If there are things we can do to be a little bit kinder, but yet not give up on the true reason, (which) is for safety,” he said.

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