The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in one of four cases involving traffic cameras.
Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Muscatine argue the Iowa Department of Transportation doesn’t have the authority to regulate how cities enforce their traffic laws.
In 2015, the IDOT ordered the three cities to remove some of their speed cameras. The cities sued, and in 2017, a district court upheld the IDOT order. The cities appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.
The IDOT says it has jurisdiction over the state’s primary road system. The agency says that includes the power to regulate traffic cameras “in the interest of safety and uniformity.”
While this case is pending in the Supreme Court, the cities were ordered to stop issuing tickets from some speed cameras.
Another traffic camera case will be submitted Tuesday without oral arguments, and the Court has yet to rule on two other cases that were argued last year. These cases argue the speed cameras violate equal protection and due process rights, among other issues.
Meanwhile, some legislators are trying to enact regulations or an outright ban on traffic cameras in the state.
