Burlington City Council considers use of speed enforcement cameras in school zones

The Burlington City Council is considering the use of speed enforcement cameras in school zones.

Members of the Council discussed a proposal — first raised by Police Chief Marc Denney last month in response to ongoing complaints about people speeding in school zones — at a public work session Monday.

"The problem we have is we only have four to five officers on at any given time during the day and the calls for service are taking away from unallocated time to be able to be out there at all these intersections that we need to be able to monitor or the school zones on a regular basis, so this is a way to get to the end means without costing the city any money doing it," Denney told the council before introducing Rick Willing, a representative of Sensys Gatso Group, a Sweden-based company that develops, markets and sells traffic safety and traffic informatics systems to police authorities, highway authorities and private concessionaires worldwide.

Willing said Sensys provides the speed enforcement cameras, as well as training and other support for the program, at no up-front cost to the city — and instead takes $35 for each citation issued. Burlington officers would have to review the "event data" and photos to determine whether traffic violations occurred.

Sensys now has more than 60 camera systems installed in Iowa across 10 cities, including LeClair, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Chester, Waterloo, Muscatine, Oelwein and Independence. So far the company's cameras have been responsible for 1.7 million citations in the state, Willing said.

Willing said that according to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study of historical data in three urban areas, the proportion of drivers exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour declined between 70% and 88% after cameras were introduced in those communities before presenting the council with results of a 24-hour speed study of high-violation roadways in Burlington.

According to that study, there were 1,595 instances where vehicles were traveling in excess of 11 miles per hour above the speed limit for a total of five roadways, the two with the highest number of violations being U.S. 61 north of Stonegate Center, with 727 violations, and Division Street east of Terrace Drive, a school zone with a recorded 711 violations.

The council members voiced opposition to wide-spread use of the cameras throughout the city. Councilwoman Lynda Murray noted she was "intrigued" by a mobile camera option that would allow for it to be moved to different locations in an effort to combat distracted driving but explained that their presence, and the resulting citations, could paint a less than welcoming picture of Burlington to visitors.

"What I don’t want to do is label our community as unfriendly," Murray said. "I’ve gotten some of these tickets by these cameras and I don’t know anything about the community, but I just know that stretch of place in that city is not friendly because I got that ticket. I’m wondering if we could put flashers around them. I would hate for visitors to always get nailed with a nasty ticket when they visited Burlington."

Councilman Bill Maupin, a self-proclaimed "Luddite", was skeptical of the accuracy of the cameras.

“Why do I think your cameras will give accurate data, because the cameras that some of us have on Sunnyside now, I’ve watched my speed going 30 miles an hour and it’s showing 42 mph on the camera," Maupin said.

Willing explained that the radars are subject to the same standards police officers have and use for their radar and that Sensys's devices are self-tested each morning as part of a 24-hour cycle. If a conflict is detected, that system is shut down until it is investigated.

Councilman Matt Rinker, a former military police officer who admitted he has a lead foot, spoke against the use of the speed enforcement cameras on the principal that interactions with officers provide good education and reminders of the speed limit.

"What I don’t like about them is I know you talked about education, but there’s nothing more educational than having blue lights behind you and being reminded of the speed by a law enforcement officer," he said. "Every now and then, a citation is definitely justified, but what I really appreciate about that is the officer’s discretion involved in that process. ... It’s the infrequency and the randomness of those traffic patrols that makes them effective, and the education that goes along with that."

He also expressed hesitance for their use based on the fact that citations resulting from the cameras would generate revenue for Sensys.

"For the cities that do it at the saturation that’s being proposed in this as more of a revenue earner for both yourself, which I appreciate that, and the city because we clock it, we take a picture, we give a fine, and it’s obviously a reminder not to speed," Rinker said. "But I believe over time what it will do is create zones within our city where people won’t speed instead of reminding people not to speed for the physical person standing at their door saying listen."

He said the city instead should better support law enforcement and patrol efforts, noting that speed enforcement has not been a priority for the police department.

"The prior two police chiefs in my five years on this council have said publicly that speed enforcement is not a priority for them," he said. "I don’t believe that as a community we have truly used our law enforcement officers as a true enforcement tool. We haven’t made it a priority through our support of the guys in blue. If we’re going to do that, that’s the path we go down."

Billups said the city's ability to make traffic patrol more of a priority is cost-dependent, and Murray said the police department has bigger fish to fry.

Billups said he is not in favor of widespread use of the cameras, but that they could be put to good use in school zones.

"I don’t want the big brother mentality either," he said. "However, there is a significant reduction in school bus passing once they installed the cameras on the buses. People quit passing buses once they got a few tickets, and so in that regard for school zones, because in the five years I’ve been on this council, we’ve constantly had people complaining about speeding in school zones. We’re talking about kids, right? And for that, if I upset a few people, I’m OK with it."

Councilman Robert Critser also voiced support for their use in school zones.

"I am tired of seeing my kids and other people’s kids in danger because somebody can’t slow down for one or two blocks," he said.

Willing said the cameras could be set for different speed limits at different times of the day.

The council ultimately agreed to revisit the possibility of deploying mobile units in school and work zones, as well as other problem areas as needed.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Burlington City Council considers speed cameras for school zones