CRIME & COURTS

Traffic-camera appeals often successful, but few try

Kathy A. Bolten

kbolten@dmreg.com

Got a citation from one of the dozens of traffic enforcement cameras scattered across Iowa?

It might be worth your while to appeal it.

In Council Bluffs, 83 percent of the automated traffic enforcement citations that were appealed by motorists resulted in dismissals, a Des Moines Register review found. The success rate on appeals in three other cities with enforcement cameras ranged from 20 to 50 percent, the Register review showed.

But only a tiny fraction of cited motorists bother appealing. In most cities, the appeals process requires taking time during a weekday to appear before a city official to haggle over a citation.

RELATED:

Just 2.7 percent of motorists who received an enforcement camera citation from Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Des Moines or Sioux City chose to appeal, the review shows. Davenport officials said they get few appeals and do not track them; Muscatine did not provide data.

The reticence to appeal citations has made it relatively easy for cities and private companies that own the enforcement cameras to collect more than $58.7 million in fines during the past eight years.

Many Iowa motorists have had a sour opinion of automated traffic enforcement cameras since 2004, when the devices were first installed in Davenport. The cameras are used to enforce speed limits and full stops at red lights before a right turn.

But while city officials say the equipment is needed to make roads safer by preventing accidents, many motorists say the cameras are used to generate revenue.

In March, the Iowa Department of Transportation ruled that 10 automated traffic enforcement cameras be turned off because they did not make roads safer.

Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and Muscatine are challenging that ruling in district court. Sioux City has litigation pending against the DOT related to the rules the state agency has developed to oversee the enforcement cameras on Iowa's highways.

Fighting the system

Since 2010, more than 666,000 enforcement camera citations have been issued in Iowa. Just 18,589 have been appealed.

That doesn't surprise John Bowman, vice president of the National Motorists Association, a member-supported organization based in Waunakee, Wis.

Bowman estimates only 5 percent of people nationwide fight regular speeding tickets issued to them.

"These citations are even harder to fight," he said. "The deck is stacked against you. At least with a regular speeding ticket, the officer who gave it to you is obligated to be at the hearing and testify. That gives you a chance to ask him questions.

"You're denied that basic right" with automated traffic enforcement cameras, he said. "You can't ask a camera questions."

Marnie Webb, 48, who lives on Des Moines' south side, has some experience with enforcement camera citations, which are not reported to the Iowa Department of Transportation and don't affect driving records.

When Webb's teenage children received citations from the enforcement cameras on Interstate Highway 235 in Des Moines, she paid the fines.

"I figured they were inexperienced drivers and probably were going faster than they should," Webb said.

But when Webb received a citation last fall, she fought it.

After complaints of speeding drivers on Broad Street, Des Moines police set up a mobile speed unit on the street, placing it in front of Webb's house.

She backed out of her driveway and drove down her street one morning as police officers were setting up the unit. She received a citation notifying her that she'd been traveling 47 mph in a 25 mph zone.

"They were saying I literally went from reverse to speeding," she said. "That's crazy. There was no way I was going to pay that."

In December, Webb went to city hall to plead her case. Webb said she explained the situation to a clerk, who dismissed the citation.

"I think people should fight if they think they have a case," she said. "... But it is time consuming."

Conrad Acebedo of Council Bluffs agreed that motorists should take the time to appeal if they think they are in the right: "I don't think people should accept the fact that (the city) has you on film."

The 67-year-old was successful in his appeal of a red-light enforcement camera citation from Council Bluffs.

"If the citations are anything like mine, everyone should try to contest it," he said.

Appeal process varies

Municipal ordinances in cities with enforcement cameras say appeals can be made in district court, a process that costs the alleged violator about $85 in filing fees.

In an effort to avoid the time and expense of defending the citations in court, cities have developed appeal processes that allow motorists to avoid appearing in a formal courtroom.

In Council Bluffs, for instance, motorists who receive citations can appeal to the city prosecutor.

The meeting takes place in the prosecutor's office, where both the person cited and the prosecutor may view videos of the alleged infraction and discuss the safety implications, said Don Bauermeister, the prosecutor.

"I don't think this needs to be a punitive system," he said. With the photo evidence that is available "it's easy for a prosecutor to win. But I take a different approach. I want to educate the public about why full stops on red lights are important.

"When I do that, the likelihood that I'll see them again is nil."

Bauermeister said it's more important to him to ensure that Council Bluffs' streets are safe than to collect money from the enforcement cameras. That's why eight out of 10 appeals are successful, he said, because citations often will be dismissed if motorists understand their mistakes.

"I don't think every city has that same approach," he said.

"Customer-friendly" appeals

In Sioux City, officials have adopted a "customer-friendly approach," Police Capt. Melvin Williams said.

Motorists who want to appeal a citation can call or visit the police station without an appointment, he said.

Video or photos of the infraction are viewed with an officer, and motorists can explain why the citation should be dismissed, Williams said.

"Anything an officer giving a traffic citation alongside the road considers, officers on the phone or at the station will consider" when deciding whether to dismiss a citation, he said.

Sioux City residents had complained that people who received an enforcement camera citation couldn't talk to a police officer, Williams said. "This allows that happen. We want to be as customer-friendly as possible."

Nearly 4 percent of people who received a citation in Sioux City appealed it.

However, just 20 percent of those appeals were successful, the Register review showed. Williams said among the issues police consider is whether the driver was involved in an emergency situation or if ownership of the vehicle had changed hands.

In one instance, a sports coach rushed to a store to get orange juice for an athlete going into diabetic shock. The citation was dismissed.

"We reviewed the video and saw that he proceeded as safely as he could," Williams said.

Enforcement camera appeals

The success rate on appeals of citations from automated enforcement cameras varies greatly among four Iowa cities that provided information to The Des Moines Register. The chart shows the percentage of citations that were overturned during the first level of the appeal process. Motorists have the option of also appealing to district court.

Differing levels of leniency

In Cedar Rapids, where 50 percent of appeals were overturned, a police officer and civilian volunteer hear citation appeals.

Greg Buelow, a police department spokesman, said if motorists can show they were headed to a hospital or involved in another emergency or no longer own the vehicle, the citation will be overturned.

"Hearing officers never have overturned a violation because the driver didn't see the speed limit sign or the (motorist) says they weren't the driver," he said.

In Des Moines, appeals hearings for traffic citations are held twice a month in City Council chambers. People who have received citations from an automated traffic enforcement camera, either for speeding or running a red light, appeal to an administrative judge.

"That way you're making your argument in front of an independent hearing officer," Des Moines Police Capt. Todd Dykstra said. "That seems the cleanest and most fair to me."

Between 2012 and 2014, 2,131 — or 1.4 percent of motorists who received one of the 154,992 citations issued in Des Moines — appealed. Twenty-five percent, or 527, successfully overturned their citations.

That small percentage of appeals is not surprising, said Samantha O'Hara, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at Simpson College in Indianola.

"Most people figure it's easier to pay (the fine) than devote resources like their time and rearrange their lives to go to court," she said.

Avenues to success

Some believe cities' rules detailing how to appeal discourage fighting enforcement camera citations.

Appeals essentially come down to two issues, Cedar Rapids attorney Michel Lahammer said: Who owns the vehicle and was it speeding or making an illegal turn on a red light?

"Outside of those two items, it's probably a waste of time to appeal, and it certainly doesn't warrant getting counsel unless there's a real unusual circumstance or something outside of the ordinary happened," he said.

The Iowa cities with enforcement cameras list up to five reasons that citations can be dismissed, including that the vehicle was reported stolen before the infraction occurred, in a funeral procession or yielding to an emergency vehicle.

In typical court proceedings, defendants are presumed innocent and prosecutors must prove guilt, said Ben Blackstock, an attorney who previously worked as a prosecutor for the city of Cedar Rapids. Not so with citations, he said.

"Here, you're charged, you're guilty," said Blackstock, who last year lost an appeal in Cedar Rapids for a speeding citation. "It was up to me to show I was not guilty, and there was only a couple ways I could do it."

Uncollected citations, fines

One in five citations issued through red-light or speed enforcement cameras in five Iowa communities remains unpaid, a Des Moines Register review of city data shows. The amount of uncollected fines exceeds $19 million.

Flawed process?

Others also have raised questions about the appeals process.

Six motorists have filed a lawsuit challenging Des Moines' automated traffic enforcement cameras on eastbound Interstate 235 near Waveland Golf Course. The cameras are among 10 ordered turned off by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Court filings in the lawsuit, which was moved to federal court, note that the city's ordinance says appeals can be made in district court. The city has developed the hearing process in front of an administrative judge, and court filings argue that Des Moines has no "standards or rules" to guide the decision-making process of that judge.

A federal judge is considering motions to dismiss the case to keep the cameras operating, filed by Des Moines and Gatso Inc., the private company that owns and operates the system.

Matt Lindholm, a West Des Moines attorney, said cities keep fines for citations low so violators will pay, rather than fight the infraction.

Fines in Des Moines for traveling 1 to 15 mph over the speed limit are $65. In Davenport, motorists cited for traveling 12 to 20 mph over the speed limit are charged $65.

Cities "have created a very difficult appeal process with a high rate of success," Lindholm said. Motorists have to do a "cost benefit analysis to decide whether it's worth taking time off work or burning a half of day's vacation to appeal.

"Usually, it doesn't make much sense to do it."

Fines by city

The following shows some of the fines charged by Iowa cities for red-light and speed automated traffic enforcement cameras:

Cedar Rapids

Red-light infraction: $100
1 to 5 mph over speed limit: $25
6 to 10 mph over speed limit: $50
11 to 20 mph over speed limit: $75
21 mph or more over speed limit: up to $500, depending on speed

Council Bluffs

Red-light infraction: $100

Davenport

Red-light infraction: $65
1 to 7 mph over speed limit: $5
8 to 11 mph over speed limit: $45
12 to 20 mph over speed limit: $65
21 mph or more over speed limit: up to $150, depending on speed

Des Moines

1 to 15 mph over speed limit: $65
16 to 20 mph over speed limit: $75
21 mph or more over speed limit: $80 plus $2 per mph in excess of 21 mph over

Muscatine

11 to 20 mph over speed limit: $75
21 to 25 mph over speed limit: $100
26 mph or more over speed limit: up to $350, depending on speed

Sioux City

Red-light infraction: $100

Source: Cities' municipal codes