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For those of you who know me, you know how much I am against speed cameras (or what I refer to as “revenue generators”) that are popping up all over the state. There are several bills alive right now with different approaches addressing the out of control placement of these “revenue generators” throughout the state. Some of the bills regulate them and some of the bills ban them. Whatever approach we take, it’s time to get it addressed!
- These are “revenue generators” because the ticket is NOT issues to the person at fault, rather to the car owner. It should NOT be the responsibility of the car owner to make whoever was driving the car pay the fine, that responsibility should be on the law enforcement agency that is issuing the ticket.
- These are “revenue generators” because the way the ticket is issued, they are not traffic violations. Therefore they do not have to follow the scheduled fine structure that is in place by state law. The state has a scale as to the maximum a fine for a speeding ticket can be charged at various intervals (5-10 MPH over, 11-20 MPH, etc….). Since these “revenue generators” do not have to follow state law, more often than not the fine from these “revenue generators” is double what state law allows!
- These are “revenue generators” because I have seen tickets that have been issued at 1 MPH over the limit. Find me a law enforcement official who has written a ticket at 1 MPH over.
- These are “revenue generators” because over a year ago on behalf of the Iowa Senate Transportation committee, I requested the data (number of tickets, revenue generated, crash data, etc) from every community that has these “revenue generators”, and only 1 community provided the data. They must be afraid of us seeing how much revenue these are generating!
- These are “revenue generators” because the most profitable ones in the state are ALWAYS placed on state or federal highways, rarely on city owned streets. If the taxpayer of the state is paying for and maintaining the road, why isn’t the state getting the income from the “revenue generators” that are being placed on the road?
- These are “revenue generators” because the City of Prairie City (just one example of MANY) has earned $3.4 MILLION in just over a year off of their cameras, with nearly all of that revenue coming from the camera on Hwy 163 (which is a state road). One can argue the safety issue concerning these “revenue generators” however there is no common sense argument to justify how citizens in the entire state should be subsidizing new tennis courts, new fire station, new water system, paving roads, etc. in Prairie City so that their residents don’t have to.
