Red Light Cameras

With a new session of the state legislature starting up soon, traffic cameras may be a hot topic for discussion. The legislature may decide if red light cameras should be allowed or not with bills being introduced in both the House and Senate. Across the state this issue has divided Iowans into two groups: those who support the traffic cameras and those who are against them.

Those who support the red light cameras have a large amount of factual data to back up their arguments on allowing red light cameras in the state. The former police chief in Cedar Rapids, Greg Graham, left behind data at the city hall on how the red light cameras have impacted traffic since they have been activated. According to the data, traffic crashes in Cedar Rapids are down 22 percent, crashes around the downtown on I-380 are down 75 percent and through the S-curves crashes are down 82 percent. Injuries and fatalities from a crash are also down 19 percent and 80 percent. Graham also said that there was an average of 2 fatalities per a year on the downtown curves but since the city installed the cameras two years ago there has not been a fatality. Not only have the cameras reduced traffic problems but they have also freed up more officers to patrol city neighborhoods. Graham said that since officers have more free time to check up on neighborhoods, violent crime is down 2 percent and property crime is down 4 percent.

On the opposite side, there is a group of Iowans that are against red light cameras on our streets. Many people in this group feel that the red light cameras are more for money generating purposes than for safety. They fear misuse will occur when communities become reliant on the revenue generated by the cameras. There are also arguments as to whether the use of the cameras is constitutional. For example in 2008 Justice David Wiggins, argued that the cameras were unconstitutional because there wasn’t a way for traffic laws to be enforced uniformly. He stated that “a motorist who gets 5 tickets from speed cameras in Davenport is still allowed to drive, even though it is a state policy to suspend a license after three moving violations in 12 months”. Red light camera tickets are considered civil violations and not moving violations. Someone ticketed by a police officer for running a red light would receive a moving violation whereas that same person if ticketed by the red light camera would have a clean record.  Another argument by those opposing the cameras is that the tickets are issued to the car and not to the driver. If you were to allow someone else to drive your car and they were caught by the camera the owner of the car is legally responsible for the ticket and not the person who was driving at that time. Many also believe that the cameras are one more step toward a “big brother is watching” attitude that is invading our society.