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Bill would raise fines for excessive speeding on Iowa roads

A bill to significantly increase the fines for excessive speeding has unanimously cleared a subcommittee in the Iowa House. Rep. Joshua Meggers of Grundy Center has been a state trooper for 18 and a half years.

“In my time with the Iowa State Patrol, I’ve seen an increase in 100 mile an hour citations and last year I had quite a few.”

Meggers and other state troopers wrote more than 1,000 tickets in 2024 to drivers who were traveling 100 miles an hour or more on a roadway. Meggers said the highest speed he encountered came at the beginning of his career.

“Back in 2006 or 2007, 126 (miles an hour) on Interstate 80.”

But it’s not just the interstates where drivers are being clocked at triple digits.

“This past summer, I was working a two-lane road in a 55 mile an hour zone and I stopped a gentleman for 103 in a 55,” Meggers said. “His excuse was he had a bad day at work and just wanted to get home.”

If his bill becomes law, the fines for speeding up to 20 miles an hour above the posted speed limit would stay the same, but anything above that would merit a $285 fine, with $5 more tacked on for every mile an hour above 20 miles more than than the speed limit. It means the fine for driving 100 miles an hour in a 55 mile an hour zone would be $410.