Ban on traffic enforcement cameras rejected by Iowa Senate

The Iowa Senate voted Wednesday night to reject a statewide ban on automated traffic enforcement cameras used to issue tickets to motorists for speeding and running red lights

Senate File 220 was approved on a 31-18 vote, sending the legislation to the Iowa House for consideration. But the key vote came earlier when lawmakers passed an amendment on a bipartisan 27-22 vote to keep traffic enforcement cameras while imposing a new set of regulations to govern the devices.

Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, an outspoken opponent of traffic enforcement cameras, unsuccessfully pleaded with his colleagues to pull the plug on the electronic gear, which is used in nine Iowa communities. While supporters say traffic cameras promote public safety, he contended the overriding purpose is to generate additional revenue for local governments.

"The  rich can afford these tickets. You can get as many as you want," Zaun said. "It doesn’t go against your drivers license or your insurances. But it really hits the low-income people."

Sen. Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan, authored the amendment to retain traffic enforcement cameras. Zumbach is a grain farmer from northeast Iowa and he described how he used to be fearful driving on a twisting section of Interstate Highway 380 in Cedar Rapids that had a history of traffic crashes. But since speed cameras have been installed on I-380, traffic has been calmed and the road is much safer, he said.

"Those traffic cameras have changed peoples' habits," Zumbach said.

EDITORIAL: Iowa should ban traffic cameras, and cities must face that reality

Zumbach's amendment establishes new standards for traffic enforcement cameras that would require local officials to justify their placement of the equipment on state  and local roads. He said the rules would prohibit  "speed traps" and would only allow the equipment in high-risk  and high-crash areas. Money generated from traffic fines would have to be spent on road construction projects or public safety.

Automated speed cameras or red light cameras are currently used in the following jurisdictions in Iowa: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Muscatine, Davenport, Windsor Heights, Fort Dodge and Polk County.

A  Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted in February found that a majority of Iowans support banning automated traffic enforcement cameras, inching up from previous years. Fifty-three percent of Iowans favor getting rid of the traffic enforcement cameras, while 41 percent are opposed and 6 percent undecided. When the issue was polled in 2013 and 2012, 51 percent of Iowans supported prohibiting the cameras each year.

Under Zaun's bill as originally introduced, local authorities currently using such equipment would have been required to dismantle them, and all ordinances authorizing them would have been declared void effective July 1.

Zaun complained that much of the revenue from traffic enforcement cameras in Iowa is going to foreign-based companies that have contracts with local governments. He added that it's difficult to correct mistakes when the devices are improperly calibrated or extenuating circumstances occur, citing the case of a driver ticketed after passing through a red light in a funeral procession.

"This country is based on your innocence until proven guilty. That is not what is going on with these traffic cameras," Zaun said.

But several Republican and Democratic lawmakers spoke against Zaun's proposal, saying there are clear-cut traffic safety benefits from automated traffic cameras.

Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, said Zumbach's amendment should resolve many concerns raised in the past by opponents of automatic traffic enforcement cameras.

"This is a well thought out and meaningful approach. Let’s address the issues and not throw out the safety mechanisms," Bowman said.

Automated traffic enforcement cameras have been unpopular among many Iowans since they first appeared in the state in 2004. Some of the controversy involves tickets issued to tens of thousands of out-of-state motorists by automated traffic cameras in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City. Those three communities are the only U.S. cities that have speed enforcement cameras monitoring interstates, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

A statewide ban on traffic enforcement cameras has been supported by lobbyists for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, the Iowa Association for Justice, ABATE of Iowa and the Iowa Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Groups that favor keeping traffic enforcement cameras include Gatso USA, the cities of Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, the Iowa State Bar Association, the Iowa Police Chiefs Association, Iowa League of Cities, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co., and Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.