Red light cameras around Iowa

Iowa Red Light Traffic Camera map

If the premise is about safety, wouldn't it make better sense to put them closer to schools and parks where children play.

One in Cedar Rapids is 5 blocks from a junior high for traffic driving away from the school.

At a $100 a pop in CR, it's hard to think it's anything but revenue.

Cameras are for your safety

Just ask Bob.

Update: I had to go back to find the link. (Thanks Crotalus)

Red light "safety" revisited

Reader and fellow Iowan, Charles, points to an article that debunks the idea that red light cameras are all about safety, safety, safety.

After a year of use, red light cameras have failed to deliver the promised safety benefits in Baytown, Texas. The Houston suburb activated the majority of its cameras on July 13, 2008. Since then, the number of accidents at eight camera locations has increased 40 percent, contrary to predictions from city officials. The increase in accidents has not been in minor "fender benders," as is frequently claimed by photo ticketing advocates. Rather, the number of collisions resulting in an injury jumped 75 percent. Rear end collisions increased 39 percent. Results from comprehensive, independent studies elsewhere in the country have yielded similar results.

"Clearly this shows no remedial effect on driving habits over time," Byron Schirmbeck, the leader of a grassroots effort to ban the cameras in Baytown, told TheNewspaper.
(Emphasis mine)

Red Light Cameras Increase Accidents in Baytown, Texas

This source has a helpful page of several university studies that debunk the camera=safety theory.

In comments to previous posts I placed on this subject, Curt of Sailorcurt, noted that increasing the length of time for a yellow caution light, results in less accidents. This study from the Texas Transportation Institute, seems to back up that assertion.

The Texas Transportation Institute examined concerns that red light cameras were being used by cities that had not first exhausted available engineering alternatives such as improving signal timing and visibility. They studied individual police accident reports from 181 intersection approaches across three Texas cities over three years to determine the most effective solutions for problem intersections.

That was published in 2004, way before Iowa decided to allow this cash cow in the state code. Over three years of data and they also came to this conclusion:

The study also found that the vast majority of red light camera tickets are issued within the first second a light is red -- in fact, the average ticket is issued when the light has been red for half a second or less. Yet right-angle crashes, which account for the majority of red-light related collisions, "with one exception, all of the right-angle crashes occurred after 5 seconds or more of red" (5-16). In other words, tickets are being issued primarily for split-second violations where collisions are not occurring.

I'm convinced that red light and speed cameras have nothing to do with this:



A camera didn't stop a University of Iowa Hawkeye lineman from an accident in Iowa City this past week.

Cameras stop a crash... or not

WATCH: Crash captured on red-light camera

When the pitchman from Gatso rolls into town plying his company as a godsend to ensure the safety of drivers everywhere, please remember that this camera did nothing except record an event. People's actions continue whether a camera is watching or not and things just happen.

But as Rep. Doug Struyk said, "These cameras result in nothing more than safety, safety, safety."

And safety comes at a price... About a $1000 a day to the city of Cedar Rapids from the red light cameras alone. Plus the speed cameras on 380.

That's a lot of safety.

I see traffic cameras... everywhere

Jumping on the cash cow:

The Muscatine City Council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance Thursday that would allow cameras at key intersections to cite speeders and those who run red lights.

The vote was 6-0, with Councilman Bob Bynum absent.

Police Chief Gary Coderoni said the police chiefs he's talked to in communities that have tried an automated system said that relatively high levels of citations immediately after the cameras are installed fell off rather dramatically in the months following.

"They might become irrelevant," he said of the cameras.

To which Kosina [of Gatso] responded, smiling: "We recommend you leave the pole up as a deterrent."

Red light camera passes first reading in Muscatine

Isn't living in a surveillance-state funny?

And not to be outdone by Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Cedar Falls are looking for additional revenue:

The city is entertaining plans for cameras to catch and ticket speeding motorists and those running red lights.

Waterloo City Council members received a sales pitch Monday from representatives of Gatso USA Inc. of Beverly, Mass., which installed similar traffic devices in Cedar Rapids earlier this year.

Waterloo eyes cameras to nab traffic violators

The Waterloo Courier called this a "sales pitch" and that's exactly what Gatso does.

Looking back to 2007 our legislature tried to prohibit cities from putting up these revenue-generating slot machines. The effort failed in the House. From this article: House removes provision to ban red light cameras

House lawmakers voted 56-27 to strip a provision from a massive transportation bill that would have prohibited the use of cameras to catch lawbreaking drivers. The House changed course just days after the Senate voted in favor of a ban.

"These cameras result in nothing more than safety, safety, safety," said Rep. Doug Struyk, R-Council Bluffs, where cameras have been watching over intersections for more than two years.

Oh really? “Either we’re going to save a lot of lives, or we’re going to make a fortune,” [Cedar Rapids] Police Chief Greg Graham said.

Remember, it's about safety, safety, safety.

"What's a ticket? Twenty dollars? Fifty dollars? It slows them down and makes them think," said Rep. Roger Thomas, D-Elkader, a paramedic who has responded to scores of traffic accidents.

Nope. It's $100:



Are we such a pathetic state that we can't have the payment processing center here? If we are going to have our pockets picked, can we at least have more of our money stay in the state?

I happened to be in the middle of one of these red-light camera intersections on Wednesday in Cedar Rapids. Light turned green and a car and I entered and then traffic stopped cold. Yellow then Red, and bang my picture is taken.

Any bets on whether I get a ticket?

Any bets on whether one of these reps from Gatso ever gets a ticket?