Des Moines sued over traffic cameras

Two Polk County women have filed a lawsuit against the city of Des Moines and the company contracted to run its automated traffic cameras.

Sarah Brooks and Michelle Bullock are seeking class action status for their lawsuit, filed against the city and Gatso USA. They argue the current system in use by the city violates their fundamental right to travel granted in the U.S. and Iowa constitutions.

"The plaintiffs believe that their fundamental right to travel is violated by a program that does not demonstrably increase public safety and imposes a very heavy cost upon the public," said James Larew, the Iowa City lawyer representing Brooks and Bullock.

According to the petition filed with the courts, the plaintiffs believe the current system entraps drivers in numerous ways, including with the threat of removing a driver's license because a ticket has not been paid.

Questions about the specifics of the automated traffic cameras and radars also have been raised. According to the petition, the cameras fail to meet Iowa code because they are not calibrated by a national standard.

In the petition, Brooks and Bullock also take issue with the fact that traffic safety has not improved with the cameras.

Earlier this week, the Iowa DOT ruled that 10 of 34 automated traffic enforcement cameras in the state should be shut down because they are not making roads safer. Among those to be shut off are speed cameras located on Interstate Highway 235 in Des Moines, where both Brooks and Bullock have received speeding tickets.

City Councilwoman Christine Hensley said this week that the cameras are justified.

"A large percentage of our citizens have demonstrated that they want us to deal with speeding on the freeway," Hensley told The Des Moines Register on Tuesday.

The lawsuit seeks to have the cameras shut down and fines refunded to those ticketed unjustly because of the "wrongful implementation of the ATE program."