Yikes! Eastern Iowa City Racks Up Thousands of Tickets in 30 Days

I think it would be safe to say that this eastern Iowa city made its quota for the month when it comes to handing out traffic citations. I'm pretty sure police officers don't actually have quotas but if they do, this city surely hit the goal from September 19th to October 19th. These citations are all thanks to the city's new traffic cameras at these two intersections.

The Winning Intersections Are...

You're looking at Highway 100 and East Post Road in the first photo and Highway 13 and Highway 151 in the second. These two intersections issued 1,220 citations in the first 30 days since "going live," according to The Gazette. These two intersections are located in Marion and have caught tons of motorists driving too fast or running red lights.

In the first month these traffic cameras were in operation, they originally handed out warnings to drivers and in those first 30 days, 1,650 warnings were sent out. While the number has gone down by 430 these past 30 days, that is still a boatload of tickets.

The Worst Part

The worst part is that most of these tickets are for running red lights as opposed to speeding. I'm not sure about you but I'd much rather be driving behind someone who is driving too fast, rather than worry about someone blasting me trying to beat a red light at an intersection. According to The Gazette, the cameras have caught 304 red light violations at Highway 100 and East Post rode, compared to 107 speeding violations.

Highway 151 and Highway 13 have seen 781 red light violations and only 28 speeding tickets. Nearly 800 people have either blown through a red light or hit the gas to try and speed through a late yellow, in only 30 days. That's just straight-up scary and dangerous.

Marion Police Chief

Mike Kitsmiller is the Marion Police Chief and the number of warnings/citations that have been issued since the cameras were put in place is consistent with the numbers the department saw while collecting data. These two locations were recommended for traffic cameras to the city council, according to The Gazette.

Mike told the Gazette they didn't want to estimate how many citations would be handed out and the goal is to keep the community safer.

We didn’t try and estimate how many citations would be generated by the cameras nor were any revenue projections included in our budget process. Our goal, from the beginning, was to keep our community safer by deterring drivers from speeding and running red lights at our two busiest intersections.

Opinion

I might be in the minority in this but I really don't understand. Not every citation handed out is given to someone who lives in Marion or even travels those intersections on a regular basis but this seems insane to me. I'm speculating here but I'd be willing to bet a vast majority of the citations given out are for people who live, work, and frequently use those intersections. Why can't you just slow down?

At the very least, you know there is a traffic camera there, so why even risk getting a ticket? Those citations cost money and can affect the rates you get on your car insurance.

Even if you're only slowing down and driving the speed limit for 100 yards, why wouldn't you just do it to avoid a ticket? The running of red lights is an entirely different can of worms. Trying to beat a yellow/red light is just stupid. You could kill yourself or worse, kill someone else and have to live with that for the rest of your life.