Iowa Speed Cameras Going Small: Where Will They Catch You Next?

Why should Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and the other metropolitan areas of Iowa have all the fun (and make all the money)? It's a question community officials across the state are asking and learning the answer to quite quickly.

KCRG reports that the traffic camera party is expanding to smaller towns in the state.

Fayette's mayor Kurt Wood said:

We don’t like to call them speed cameras, we call them safety cameras. That’s the whole reason we installed them here

Some Iowa drivers call them a money grab or more NSFW terminology, but according to statistics, they work. 3,279 citations were issued in the first year a camera was installed in Fayette. Their lone speed, excuse me, safety camera is installed near the town's busiest intersection Highway 150 and State Highway 93. The number of traffic citations resulting from the camera is nearly twice the actual population of Fayette. During the period from June 2021 to July 2022, Fayette collected nearly $190,000 from traffic camera citations

West Union has also installed a traffic camera, resulting in 4,753 from August of ‘21 through July of this year.  According to KCRG, they cite drivers for $75 for going at least 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

For comparison's sake, from July 2020 to the end of that year, Cedar Rapids issued more than 120,000 citations and collected $3.1 million in fines. This data was reported by Little Village Magazine.

As Eastern Iowa experiences its first measurable snowfall of the season, slick spots on the road should be a good reminder to slow down. If not, there's always that pesky, polarizing speed camera that might catch you red-handed.