DRIVERS are speaking out after a July 1 road law will impose fines of up to $1,000 on speeding drivers.
Highway-mounted road monitoring devices were restarted in several major cities on July 1. Drivers complained that road law capture devices were too expensive.
two
Iowa drivers in six cities — Davenport, Cedar Rapids, LeClaire, Muscatine and Des Moines — were warned about speed cameras.
Cameras paused drivers while data systems implemented new automatic rates. They were reactivated on July 1st.
“Speed cameras have nothing to do with safety,” claimed one driver in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, about the road law.
“It’s just a way for greedy local governments to generate revenue.”
More cities in the US have installed speed capture cameras, as excessive acceleration has been commonly cited in recent traffic accidents.
The U.S. has seen an increasing number of accidents since 2020 — although the number of American accidents is decreasing, according to the Highway Safety Insurance Institute.
Iowa’s new law hopes to slow down drivers in the six densely populated cities.
The cameras will issue automatic fines to all drivers caught traveling at 18 km/h or more on the city’s roads.
Cars caught driving 11 to 20 mph over the speed limit will pay $75 for the violation.
Driving 21 to 25 mph over the limit carries a $100 fine.
Drivers will pay $250 for speeding from 26 to 30 mph.
Anything over 30 mph will get you an automatic $500 fine.
All fines are doubled if the driver is caught in a construction zone.
The fine will initially be sent to the car owner. A vehicle owner can report to the state that they were not behind the wheel during the violation.
However, they must have proof that another driver was using the vehicle and provide the driver’s name.
Drivers must pay or refute the fine within 30 days, the new law determines.
How to fight a speeding ticket
According to a legally reviewed post, there are five effective strategies for fighting a speeding ticket if it was issued improperly.
- If stopped and a ticket is issued, drivers can discuss or dispute the driver’s personal opinion. When issuing a speeding ticket, the police officer is required to write his opinion and come to an “objective” conclusion. If the fine was written based on this judgment, it can be challenged. An example would be if you were traveling at 75 mph in a 65 mph zone because other people were traveling at the same speed, you could argue that it would be more dangerous to travel at 65 mph.
- You can challenge the police officer’s presentation of evidence. If you’ve been ticketed for something like running a stop sign or making an illegal U-turn, you can’t contest it if a police officer saw you, but you can take things to court like eyewitness accounts, diagrams, or photos.
- Argue that the ticket was issued due to an “error of fact”. This is complicated, but a “mistake of fact” is a mistake made by a driver over a situation that was beyond their control, or if a driver legitimately did not know they were violating the law. For example, you were driving in two lanes because the lane markers were so worn out that you couldn’t see them.
- You could say the circumstances justified his direction. You could say you were speeding to pass a possibly drunk driver or avoiding an accident by quickly changing lanes. However, the argument will not work if there is evidence that you continued to speed after passing.
- Similar to the above, it could be argued that speeding was necessary to avoid harm. The key is to argue that if you weren’t speeding, you or someone else could have been injured.
- Consult a traffic lawyer if all else fails. Many have free consultations to decide whether or not there is a case.
Source: Find Law
If the driver does not pay in a timely manner, the state may withdraw the funds from the resident’s future state tax returns.
Drivers will also be able to contest the fine in full.
However, trying to escape the fine carries additional financial risks.
Drivers must pay a $95 fee if they dispute their ticket in court and lose their case.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
