Heads Up Leadfoot–Muscatine Cameras Will Start Issuing Tickets Again March 1st!

According to the city of Muscatine, automated traffic enforcement (ATE) cameras and their mobile unit will start issuing tickets from their locations in the city. The city had to redraft some enforcement language to their code after a Cedar Rapids court case.  It's a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo you can read here.

The cams have been up an running the whole time, but until they click back into ticket mode March 1st (FRIDAY, btw), they've been used for "Statistical purposes" since Sept. of 2018. Here's where they are located.:

The City maintains the same old crock about how the cameras are for safety, rather than revenue, according to Muscatine's Assistant Police Chief. “We want the number of citations to go down,” Phil Sargent said. “This program is about safety for the travelling public and for pedestrians. We would be happy to see fewer citations because that means drivers are obeying traffic laws.”

I don't buy it.  It's a revenue generating measure for both the company who installed and maintains the system, as well as the city.  Any safety benefit is just an added bonus that helps justify this brand of highway robbery. That's why the city spent the last year rewriting the ordinance.

Big Brother is back on the case in Muscatine!