Here is the jaw-dropping QC Times Barb Ickes story (thanks to TN for the forward).
LeClaire’s two speed cameras have issued $6,310,150 in fines in 10 months. Police can’t say if the cameras reduced crashes
This Wikipedia picture below is from about the middle of the LeClaire, Iowa business district / HWY 67 viewing downriver. It is the street referenced in the story with the speed cameras at either end of the extended city proper. Readers can try google maps for the few minutes tour of this, the main drag in question. The town has about 4700 residents and is growing with some industry, tourism in the Galena-like downtown but mostly as a bedroom community for the Quad Cities and its job offerings. At one time the city had local notoriety as a sort of rundown biker-bar burg sustained by that and being a speed trap. The main drag including the bars has been gentrified but apparently not the reliance on traffic fines. I am trying to think if there are any stop lights on this main drag other than at the extreme end of the city limits near the I-80 interchange.
Read the story and then we will have a challenge directed at the particular LeClaire matter, but first consider this commentary about how more of this might be coming to some other similarly situated burgs in this and other states. Forgive us if we suspect safety is really not the overriding issue as there are other means to that end. Revenue is with the added ‘benefit’ of the surveillance state.
Nanny Grassley ‘works’ not necessarily for you. Gov. Ron DeSantis takes issue with such crap
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis –“They’re spending $15 billion on speed cameras to be able to catch people speeding. I mean, I’m sorry. I don’t want that. That’s bringing us even more surveillance,” the Republican said. “Like we need more surveillance in our society right now.
Chuck Grassley voted for the massive infrastructure bill that will foster more of what is called Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE). Under the guise of traffic safety there is no principled limit to a camera on every corner. Grassley voted for the Democrat-Biden infrastructure bill against the better judgement of the great majority of his Republican colleagues. The not as good senator went along with the Democrat and bureaucrat managed society dream bill as a matter of “regular order”. New world order would be a more apt description of the policies intertwined that Grassley was oblivious to, if not in support of — certainly not concerned enough to join his betters in insisting on a better bargain.
By the way, the bill includes provisions for requiring alcohol monitors/interlocks in every new car. Grassley ‘signed the check’ to promote that sort of big-government surveillance state crap.
Grassley defends his big-government spendthrift votes basically with press announcements of bacon brought home and the idea of “regular order”(greased by bacon fat). It is inescapable that Grassley’s defense is to imply that conservative senators who opposed the bill were uninterested in bringing home some bacon. But then those senators knew that regular order with Democrats in charge is the road to hell and that the real infrastructure for their states would come with a better bill soon enough without the assaults on civil liberties and green boondoggles.
Grassley wasn’t interested in holding back and being part of the majority of Republicans effort to cut the crap. Grassley wanted to announce the silver for Iowa and he did not want that impeded even by a few weeks by his betters in the process. The senators who opposed the bill Grassley supported were very concerned about the parliamentary process telegraphed by the Democrats, which Grassley helped the Democrats to do, which was to set up the hazarding of the republic with the intended follow-on bill — the so-called gargantuan human infrastructure bill. That monstrosity under the machinations of the Democrat leadership could then (again thanks in part to good ol’ collegiate Chuck), be passed with a mere majority vote, avoiding any filibuster.
The cash cow
Now back to the specifics related to the QC Times story about the LeClaire, Iowa ‘outperforming’ speed cameras/ ticket turnstiles.
The figures given in the article indicate a near 50/50 split of revenue between the city and the technology/fulfillment company a Swedish company probably fronting the effort which is generically referred to as ATE — automatic traffic enforcement. The article says the contract provides only 35% to the company when there is prompt pay — but they get an extra 25% when payments are late due to collection costs. So that might explain the near 50%.
The company’s name is Sensys Gatspo. which sounds very much like Sensitive Gestapo. Their slogan might be “All the cudgel without the blood”
The LeClaire PD give some figures for prior accidents deaths in the corporate limits but have no figures as to reduction. I do not see how the figures are not available as that should be easy to count for a police department. Do they not have a file for christ sakes!
It is not my only complaint but my biggest one of late about these cameras is the promotion of the surveillance state. For the record I have not had a camera ticket from LeClaire but did have one many years ago from a deputy sheriff covering for the town constable.
In my opinion the pretend focus of the program is accident reduction. In order to find out one might challenge the city to use their portion received to date (about $2.2 million) to instead fund two squad cars (current models painted but stripped and movable) just parked at roughly the same two locations but occasionally repositioned — total cost for both maybe $80k. It would probably be more effectives as to accident and speed reduction. Nothing says hit the brakes like an obvious squad car. Ask yourself, why would the fake squad cars not be as effective at accident and speed reduction as the tiny cameras? Throw in an existing real manned one periodically during the day (normal current levels) to keep the locals guessing.
Now each bogus squad car would last several years, let’s say five. The city’s ten-month revenue collected to date of $2.2 million could fund that program indefinitely and never loose their corpus– $2.2mil invested at 5% yield is $110k A YEAR. The city could fund that and still make $400K over the life of the fakes. And think of the sensitivity training they could fund for cops with that extra money to please the growing soccer mom population!!
Would they do that? — no because the main goal is revenue not safety. And our buddy Grassley voted to give more dollars to foster/fund electronic ATE.
I know, invite the city to call the fake squad program ATE (it is of a sort) and everyone is happy — except city councils that lust after the revenue.
