Does Council Bluffs Iowa Have Red Light Cameras
COUNCIL BLUFFS — Iowa roads officials may put the brakes on red-low-cal cameras posted at some of this metropolis's busiest intersections.
A proposal by the Iowa Department of Transportation would impose new limits on the use of reddish-low-cal and speed-enforcement cameras in Iowa cities. The unmanned cameras now produce more 200,000 tickets and $13million in fines annually, or more than $4 per Iowa resident.
The cameras have created a backfire over civil liberties and get an upshot for the Iowa Republican Party, with some complaining of out-of-control government.
With the support of Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, the Iowa Department of Transportation has proposed new rules that would allow the cameras more often than not as short-term fixes for specific traffic issues.
"Nosotros want to make sure that other things are considered and implemented," said Steve Gent, director of traffic and prophylactic for the department. "Because, let'due south face information technology, cameras are very intrusive."
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But officials in many of the cities that apply the cameras, including Quango Bluffs and Sioux City, oppose the proposal, calling information technology an attempt to take the cameras away. They regard the cameras as of import traffic prophylactic tools and say the state is interfering in a local matter.
"Decisions like these are best left to the local governments, because I have to walk down Main Street and have people complain to me, and they don't," said Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott.
The rules would allow municipalities to seek permission to use speed and reddish-calorie-free cameras only later on other "technology and enforcement solutions" have been tried. Cities would accept to show that the cameras target "documented high-crash or high-take chances locations," and they would exist required to justify their renewal every year.
If a legislative committee gives its blessing, the limits could go into effect as early as February. The rules would apply to state and federal highways in the cities, including Interstates, where the majority of the cameras are used.
Gent said the amount of money local governments enhance from the tickets is 1 of the concerns.
Council Bluffs uses only red-low-cal cameras, while Sioux Metropolis uses red-light and speed cameras. Other cities, including Fort Contrivance, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, also use cameras.
Speed cameras are more lucrative; the ii placed in a construction zone on Interstate 29 in Sioux City brought in more than than $four.5 1000000 for the fiscal year ending in June. Council Bluffs received $715,186 during the same period, according to data submitted to the department by both cities.
"These things generate a lot of money, then nosotros have a lot of people out there that are saying 'Await a sec — that just doesn't seem right,' " Gent said.
Council Bluffs and Sioux Metropolis officials say the cameras were put in place to solve specific traffic safety problems: blood-red-lite running in Quango Bluffs and speeding through the Interstate construction zone in Sioux City.
Critics take raised privacy concerns, just Council Bluffs police say there is no expectation of privacy on a public street — and there is an expectation for motorists to obey traffic laws.
Jason Bailey
"Traffic safe — that's what this boils down to," said Council Bluffs Police Sgt. Jason Bailey. "This is non an invasion of privacy."
An attempt to put limits on the cameras died in the Iowa Legislature earlier this twelvemonth. The proposed change would be administrative and would not require action past the Legislature.
In Nebraska, speed and scarlet-light cameras are not allowed.
Council Bluffs acquired vii fixed cameras in 2005 and added six more than in 2009. Many of them are installed on Due west Broadway, between downtown and Interstate 29.
According to urban center information, crashes have declined by 57 percent at the intersections where cameras were installed in 2005, and past 25 percent at the intersections where the devices were added in 2009.
"These cameras have actually done what they are supposed to do," said Tom Hanafan, Quango Bluffs mayor until January.
The Bluffs cameras utilize sensors embedded in the street. As the low-cal turns yellow, the system senses when a vehicle is approaching at a speed too fast to end, and the photographic camera photographs the vehicle. A police officer reviews the images to make sure a instance is solid before a ticket is sent to the vehicle owner.
The possessor is responsible for the $100 fine, regardless of who was driving.
Greg Reeder
"This is treated similarly to a parking ticket," said Greg Reeder, managing director of public works for Quango Bluffs. "Your insurance company isn't notified. … It doesn't continue your permanent tape."
The cameras get mixed reviews from the public. Many don't like them, merely there's also a sentiment that motorists should non run red lights.
Cathy Halder, 42, of Missouri Valley, Iowa, said she's glad Council Bluffs has red-light cameras but thinks the city may have as well many. She does not want the cameras to go abroad, but thinks more country oversight might be appropriate.
"If you know where they are ... you pay attention at lights meliorate," Halder said as she stopped for gas Thursday morning at a gas station on Broadway.
Ed Beall, 43, of Atlantic, Iowa, doesn't like the cameras, and he doesn't retrieve the lights stay yellow long enough. "I actually remember (the cameras) need to go," he said.
Council Bluffs uses proceeds from its cameras to make public-safe related purchases, such as new police force cruisers. In Sioux City, the revenue has been used to reduce belongings taxes.
Gent said the goal is non necessarily to eliminate the cameras, but he can't guarantee that Council Bluffs and other cities would be able to proceed them.
"The department is looking to be a check and rest … (to) provide some sort of level of oversight," he said.
This report includes textile from the Associated Printing.
Source: https://omaha.com/news/council-bluffs-sioux-city-defend-red-light-speed-cameras/article_ae171e01-c75c-5fb7-bbdf-8df5e322eb85.html
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