South Dakota Puts the Brakes on Sioux City’s Speeding Cams
Tell me if this has ever happened to you. You're buzzing down I-29 through Sioux City with the peddle to the meddle because you forgot about the speed limit difference between South Dakota and Iowa, then a few days later you receive a speeding citation from the Sioux City police department in the mail?
Congratulations, you've just been caught by a Sioux City interstate highway speeding cam.
Here's a bit of good news. The state of South Dakota did its residents a solid on Wednesday, January 6, 2016 by barring the Sioux City Police Department from electronically accessing driver registration data.
Speed camera's were banned in South dakota in 2014, and since then law makers have worked to protect drivers from speed traps in neighboring areas, including those along Interstate 29 in Sioux City.
According to Matt Konenkamp, Policy Advisor to Governor Dennis Daugaard, "Wednesday's move is to close a loop hole so that they don't continue to use the information in a way that the legislation has prohibited the state from sharing it for."
While this seems like a victory for South Dakota drivers who occasionally gap out the speed limit differences between two the states, don't get too excited and think this gives you an open invitation to go tearing through Sioux City like Mario Andretti.
This new ban simply means Sioux City has just lost one of its tools in their tool box to ascertain who the driver of the vehicle is. Sioux City police can still obtain South Dakota driver information, they now will have to call a dispatch office instead.
Justin Vondrak, Assistant City Attorney, for Sioux City said despite the ban, South Dakota drivers will continue to be fined. According to Vondrak, "As long as our cameras keep capturing South Dakota drivers citations will continue to go out to those drivers that exceed the speed limit in Sioux City."
My advice, remember to ease up on that accelerator just a bit as you transition into Iowa from South Dakota, just to avoid unwanted mail from the Sioux City police department.
Source: ABC9