LECLAIRE, Iowa – Speed cameras may be coming to a busy interstate just outside the Quad Cities on I-80.
And with all the speeding cars on I-80 it’s tough to catch them all.
“People coming over this bridge don’t slow down, I hate this bridge,” says Sergeant Michael Gonzales of the LeClaire Police Department.
Gonzales spends a lot of time on the mile and half stretch of the interstate right before and after drivers cross the Mississippi River bridge.
“We can put the radar on and see what we get here,” Gonzales says while checking the radar. “The fastest so far is 79 and the speed limit is 65.”
Now the city is looking into installing two speed cameras targeting traffic coming and going.
“Some of the arguments I get when I pull people over is ‘why didn’t you sop that guy?’,” Gonzales says. “Well, I can’t stop him if I’m here with you.”
They would work like any other speed camera automatically ticketing speeding drivers.
“From what I understand is that one is able to do six lanes,” explains Gonzales.
It can capture 32 vehicles at a time, freeing up Gonzales to focus on other priorities.
“If I’m out here patrolling like today, driving around a patrolling the speed limit, then who’s in the neighborhoods?” questions Gonzales.
For now, the idea of these speed cameras is still up in the air but could give police a lot more closure.
The camera would be no cost to the city from the speed camera company, but the chosen company would get a certain percentage from each citation.