The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s Department of Transportation did not have the authority to hand out more than 12,000 citations it gave drivers. Fines for some of those citations cost upwards of $1,000.
In 2016 two drivers were stopped and ticketed by DOT officers for speeding in a construction zone on I-35. The drivers separately filed lawsuits claiming that Iowa DOT motor vehicle enforcement officers didn’t have any right to cite them for speeding. After combining the two suits, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously in their favor. They found that Iowa DOT officers didn’t have the authority to issue citations “for matters other than operating authority, registration, size, weight, and load.”
More than 12,840 other citations given out by Iowa DOT between 2014 and 2016 were also issued improperly. On average the tickets were for about $150, but some – like those issued in construction zones – cost over $1,000 apiece.
After the lawsuit was filed, the state passed a new law which temporarily designated DOT officers as “peace officers,” giving them the authority to enforce all state laws. That power was supposed to expire in July of this year, but the state legislature extended the law for an additional year.
Even though the Supreme Court has ruled against the Iowa DOT, the battle isn’t over. An attorney for the drivers, Brandon Brown, says that he will now pursue a class action case to get those improper fines refunded to the drivers who paid them.
Source: gobytrucknews, clintonherald, desmoinesregister, kcci, whotv, iowacourts
Typical government officials overstepping their authority and costing people more money. Sick isnt it.
How IRONIC, that the state would pass a bill designating motor carrier enforcement as “peace officers”, “AFTER” this law suit. Don’t those people know how the tampons and novelty plugs get to the store shelves? How ungrateful of them. They should pick a money racket and stick with it…..
they have and are trying too
Funny when you give somebody a position or title the pshyco effect it has on them. Overstepping their authority . Feeling like they actually have power over you. Writing tickets to drivers for speeding when they speed all the time. Hypocrites. Stupid job cant make them feel good about what they do.
Iowa Department Of Agravation
Any driver,of any class vehicle should not just get a speeding ticket but should lose their license for at least a year for the first offence, by any means necessary
Seriously? What should be done to construction contractors who put up speed limit signs and cones, but do no work for months at a time? State authorities tolerate this behavior, and it results in accidents and deaths – who should be responsible, there? Anyone holding the idiots responsible who blow past everyone in a lane that is closing, to force their way in at the last second, causing traffic jams and accidents?
States have an incentive ti alliw this sort of thing, in the form of easy revenue. I’m not saying that’s why they do it, but it’s hard to imagine a better reason…
Speeding in Iowa is common, since it is a mostly flat, empty state. Not such a great idea in an active construction zone, but we don’t know those details, here. Anybody can put up a speed limit sign and a cone – doesn’t mean that there was any thought put into what would be a reasonable number, or why.
There is more to a citation, than just the fact that it was written. No one here is going to believe that you have never driven over the speed limit, so don’t even try to make that claim. And don’t be a hypocrite.
My what?
Some good news,I hope truck drivers prevail.
Let Freedom ring.
This isn’t just an Iowa problem, this is a nationwide problem with DOT. We had a driver told last month by a DOT officer in Georgia that the driver and his trucker would be pulled in the scale house every time because the DOT officer could find “something” on the truck every time because of the year of the truck. The truck had just been redone from top to bottom, inside and out and the DOT officer put him OOS. The driver is also a mechanic for Ringpower and he has redone 3 cabovers to award winning show quality. Don’t tell me that something isn’t wrong with DOT!
The DOT officials, being bureaucrats, will do whatever they are told to.
Wrong. DOT officials, being bureaucrats, will do whatever they WANT to do.
I once was put out of service because I had 1 nail that pulled out of a board being used to chock cable reels. I went and got one nail and hammered it in. Took 30 seconds. He couldn’t just tell me about the board and have me fix it he had to put something on my record. I hate dot with a passion.
If the guy is a certified mechanic he’s authorized to sign the citation as corrected and drive off after inspecting/correcting the deficiancy.
Amen they hate seeing our old trucks on the road especially when they are in better shape and smoke less than new ones
DOT isn’t about safety. They’re just like any other cops. It’s all about the revenue.
It’s not about revenue. The average DOT worker couldn’t care less about state or federal coffers. It’s about the power. Period. Yes, they love issuing citations that do bring in revenue, but it’s about spanking the drivers and carriers.
No its not only about revenue friend. It also has to do with the attitude of many d.o.t officers who are either just overly power happy because they know any review of the case is done by the officer who wrote the citation (been there tried that), or they are mad because the had to become a dot after failing the higjway patrol exam/physical, or both. For example there is a fine gentleman (haha yeah right) in nebraska that routinely writes tickets to cattle haulers for failure to secure the load. (Like they got cow seatbelts). A call to the local magistrate or district attorney explaining the situation gets you the same idiotic answer, “sounds like a reasonable charge to me” ? Insanity with no federal oversight. And i wont even het started on arkansas.
So what about the return of the fines and the points restored to your license
Class action lawsuit will end in a settlement. $150 × 12000 = $1.8 million. Settlement will probably be for $100k or less. Lawyer gets at least $30k for filing some paperwork and having a meeting, and drivers get checks for $2. License and CSA points stand, as well as any employment terminations or disciplinary consequences, and after the lawsuit, drivers will lose their right to sue for their losses, individually.
Easy money for the lawyer, easy way out of liability for the DoT, without even having to give much of the money back… and the short end of the stick goes to who? You guessed it – the drivers. Again.
Bet me.
CDL drivers / truckers are seen as a rolling source of revenue, and little more.
Any way a locale can think of to get their hand in your pocket…..they do.
Here is a insane way to right this wrong, get you a recorder ,mount it so it can see the road forward and your speedometer. and try to be diligent and don’t brake their laws
How do you brake a law?
wow that’s just insane, a cop is a cop and if you’re caught speeding then guess what you deserve a speeding ticket
“a cop is a cop”… No sir. Jurisdiction is an important limitation on law enforcement authority. If you think otherwise, then move to Russia or Saudi Arabia, where they don’t “waste time” on pesky little technicalities like the U.S. Constitution.
ha ha constitutional protections what are you on about. Telling another American to move out of America!!!!!, because he doesn’t support your view….. what a joke
A cop isnt a cop period. They are just revenue collectors. If they was real cops they wouldnt break so many laws themself. They break more in one day than I have in a lifetime.
Cops used to be peace officers, due to many reasons they have slowly become Law Enforcement Officers. Peace Officers break up fights, combat theft/robbery,, and perform other measures to, keep the peace. Law Enforcement Officers enforce the laws on the books, and the 40,000 (on average…insane right? ) new laws that join those books each year. That’s a huge difference.
With a true peace officer, as long as you don’t do things to disturb the peace, they are your friend. With a LEO, everyone not wearing a badge is a criminal.
funny how everyone loves a cop until, they get caught being stupid in a stupid zone… Then the cop has to be anything but right
They’re not law enforcement officials either. They’re revenue collection agents. They’re just too stupid to see that they’re being used.
While I believe that to some degree where does it end? If you’re going a little too fast out of your subdivision and the security officer stops you can he write you a ticket? Would you fight it? He’s not a cop but perhaps the HOA gave them the authority within the subdivision. I think that was the point of the lawsuit. The DOT officers did not have the authority to issue those citations because they weren’t sworn police, only agents of the Iowa DOT. They’re only authorized to enforce the motor carrier operating laws not traffic ones. That’s why the state had their emergency decree changing their status. If I was one of those ticketed though I sure wouldn’t hold my breath for a refund….
Shouldn’t they also have to take additional training to be bonafide ticket writing cops? You can just say it and make it true usually..
Well yeah truck drivers are an easy prey for these money hungry parasites!…Will you publish this comment or erase it like all the others dictatorial censors?
I’m 70 didn’t intend on giving up my steering wheel till I couldn’t climb into the cab. But after being mistreated for the last time I am putting my truck and trailer up for sale. Everywhere I go they just keep abusing drivers. I’m just done f em.
Speeding in a construction zone? Really? My policy is DON’T GIVE THEM A REASON TO STOP YOU!!!
They don’t need a reason. They write the citation, and you fight it or you don’t. If you pay it, they win by default – and if you fight it, (worst case), nothing happens to them except that they don’t get your money. It costs you either way, and paying it is cheaper (in the short term) than fighting it, so it’s a numbers game, to them, and rigged heavily in their favor.
We know nothing about the circumstances of the citations. Could easily have been setups, where they hide the construction or speed limit signs so you can’t see them until the radar is on you. Don’t assume that the drivers were wrong, just because a DoT man wrote a citation. We already know that the DoT man was wrong for writing it – exactly how wrong might he have been?
Had the state not deputized them, the DoT would simply have resorted to inspection delays and traffic jams, to make their point about power and authority. Drivers were never going to win. I hope that those plaintiffs are doing something other than driving, for a living, because there are some DoT men in Iowa who will be watching for them, from now on… :-/
There are three places were there is no excuse for not obeying traffic laws ! #1, Emergency & H.P. vehicles, #2, Road construction of any kind !, #3, School zones, no exceptions !
stop it your making tooooo muuuuch sense and those who are feeling above the law won’t like you….lol
So you’ve never ever went even 1 mph over the limit in a construction zone? You’re a liar and a hypocrite.
In that same time frame they were targeting Tankers on axle weight even if they were under gross 80k. That’s why I don’t go up to Iowa. They make up the rules as they see fit.
Even Judges know those tickets do not walk if you provide evidence of NO baffles or bulkheads
Revenue collectors of a corrupt state. The whole system, top to bottom, is rotten.
What about the courruption in California, about transportation lawmakers, starting with DOT, Dmv and Caltrans.
This state generates unbelievable revenue from unfair traffic citations, Dmv swallows every dollar, no refunds from mistakes they do, because workers are train to do so. California has the worst roads , because Caltrans abuse
Of the money from the state, an the Mantenance
Of the roads is terrible, we the truckers pay road taxes to have good roads but instead, they hire contractor companies to breake what is already done to re do it over and over, creating traffic Jms and accidents, and worse!
After long periods in some cases years to finish, when finally they remove the cons to open all lanes the road is terrible bumps and holes As a result our equipment don’t last , we and up having very expense broken parts. Where is the The money from our road taxes go??
Lovers of lies
it is nice to comment.
Perhaps, some one can do something good to fix the mentioned issues.
But the only people can do something about it, are those on power. As for the ordinary people, it is nothing but wasting time, it is a last case.
There is no compasión
No point for the comments.
” Why were their DOT vehicles even equipped with radar ? !
See I don’t understand. I live in Iowa there are 3 or 4 Iowa state troopers between council bluffs and Neila IA. That’s all they do is pull over semi trucks all day long, while people are going 10 to 20 mph over the speed limit. If the court said DOT can’t issue tickets to cars then the highway patrol shouldn’t be able to issue ticket to a semi truck
Wow sounds like u guys really hate cops and dot cops, in my experience I always treat them as i do most people, friendly and very respectful. They have always done the same for me. I have broken laws and had to pay time to time but never been ‘nailed to a wall’. Get your self a blue line sticker and put it on your driver door, believe me it goes a looooong way. Too many people are Targeting cops now a day’s and it makes me sick. These guys run toward danger when most run away. Remember that!
What about the courruption in California, about transportation.
People are deaf and blind
Or to afraid to speak up
DOT is largely a group of wanna be failure cops that are looking for a way to flex some POWER with their Tin badge as a creeper cop..
Many of them take great pride in ruining a truck drivers life because they despise them.
It’s a wonder there hasn’t been more of a political push against the often outrageous acts of DOT and FMCSA , they are trully acronym agencies run out of control !!
I.O.W.A. I Oughta Went Around
It will be hilarious when driverless truck be on the road what is DOT do? citation via email to the truck computer??? ha ha ha they lose their jobs.