Marion traffic cameras begin ticketing

MARION, Iowa (KCRG) - More than a thousand people have blown through the red lights at an intersection in Marion - the same intersection where a semi-truck ran a red light and killed a woman from Wellman.

Now the cameras that caught those drivers will start issuing tickets.

The traffic cameras are located at the intersections of Highway 100 and East Post Rd and Highway 13 and 151. Those cameras aren’t just checking to see if drivers are speeding. They’re also monitoring who is and isn’t stopping at the red lights.

During their trial period, both sets of cameras recorded almost 15 hundred red light violations and more than 150 speeding violations combined.

“For these numbers, we were surprised that there were that many in such a short amount of time when it’s clearly posted there’s a camera ahead. Maybe people knew it was a warning and that they weren’t going to worry about it but again tomorrow- that’s a different tune,” said officer Tom Daubs with the Marion Police Department.

The cameras will be sending tickets starting today for drivers going 11 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.

”Starting tomorrow those tickets count. They will be mailed out in I believe a week or 10 days you’ll get a notice- the owner of the vehicle, not necessarily the driver, but the person that the car is coming back to. They’re going to get a notice in the mail saying that there was a violation saying they owe a certain dollar amount by a certain day,” Daubs said.

The goal of having the cameras is to slow drivers down so that if an accident were to occur, it would be likely to be less severe.

And to prevent people from running red lights- which killed a woman at the East Post, Highway 100 intersection in January.

”Be the better driver. Slow down. Enjoy your commute. Rather than trying to race here to there and there to here just kind of slow down and maybe the other cars around you are doing the same thing so if there’s a crash- it’s a low speed less impactful fender bender rather than wheels falling off of cars, fenders getting pushed into backseats of cars, people getting hurt- that’s what we want to avoid,” Daubs said.

The city will also be using a mobile traffic enforcement camera that will be set up in areas that see speeding concerns.

”It’d be great if all said well nobody’s run the red lights and we’ve done our job and people are aware of it and they’re being safe and responsible on the roads- that’s the ultimate goal because there are going to be crashes we just want to make sure they’re the least impactful.,” Daubs said.