Iowa City officials support traffic cameras

Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine on Thursday said traffic data has reinforced his support for red-light and speed cameras, and the City Council on Monday will again discuss the matter.

City Manager Tom Markus, who had been noncommittal, also said Thursday he favored adding the cameras. Whether a majority of the council agrees remains to be determined.

In March, council members talked about whether they were interested in joining the several other Iowa towns, including Cedar Rapids, that have the controversial traffic-enforcement cameras.

Most of the council members said they wanted to see more traffic data before making a decision.

That information was released by the city Thursday in advance of a City Council work session to be held Monday night. The focus of the research was on red-light cameras, and the council has said it will consider those and speed cameras separately.

The city's transportation planning division found that 0.6 percent of 14,551 vehicles entering 10 different intersections during peak hours this spring ran a red light, according to a memo by Hargadine and transportation planner John Yapp. The peak hours were 7:15 to 8:45 a.m. and 4:14 to 5:45 p.m.

Using that average and traffic counts, planners estimated how many vehicles run red lights at certain intersections over a 24-hour period. At Melrose Avenue and Mormon Trek Boulevard, the number was 214. At Dubuque and Church streets, it was 116.

Yapp, who also supports the cameras, said the numbers were higher than he had expected.

The 10 intersections had 28 collisions caused by red-light running from 2007-2009, or an average of about three a year. Red-light running on average accounted for 4 percent of collisions citywide during those years, according to planners.

In the past decade, collisions caused by a vehicle running a red light injured 32 motorists and caused more than $1 million in damage, according to the memo.

Hargadine said that while someone could argue the number of collisions is low, he found the number of vehicles running red lights to be significant.

“It only takes one of those to hit a pedestrian or a bicyclist or another vehicle that's full of a family,” he said.

Markus said in an email message that cameras could reduce violations and accidents and stretch the city's police staffing.

The average officer spends 45 minutes working a vehicle collision that does not include drunk driving, Hargadine said.

Council member Connie Champion questioned whether there truly was a need for traffic-enforcement cameras in Iowa City, although she had not yet reviewed the data. She has voiced privacy concerns about the cameras before and said she's still opposed to them.

“On the average, I think they're a money-making thing, and I'm not sure that's how the city should be making money,” she said.

Council member Susan Mims, who also had yet to see the data, is undecided about the cameras but said she shares some of the privacy concerns. She also said she hasn't heard anyone say the city should install cameras primarily for the revenue they'd generate, and she doubted Iowa City residents would support them just for the money.

“I want to make sure that if we're doing it that we really have some safety justification, that it's not just a money-making proposition,” she said.

Hargadine and Yapp have recommended that money from the traffic cameras go toward public safety.

Cedar Rapids made $2.3 million from eight red-light cameras and five speed cameras in the first year, and 95 percent of the citations were for speeding on I-380.

Cities share the revenue with private vendors that operate the camera systems.

Yapp said Iowa City officials have talked about installing 5 to 10 red-light cameras and possibly rotating them annually. A very rough estimate puts the city's share from ticket revenue at $100,000 a year, he said, although that would be expected to decrease as more people follow traffic laws.