Red Light Cameras on the Way?
March 6th, 2008 at 10:26am Aaron Chambers
Rockford wants to install red light cameras at certain intersections:
Run a red light in Rockford and you might find a ticket in the mail, if a bill winding its way through the Legislature becomes law.
Winnebago and five other counties could install cameras photographing motorists illegally cruising through traffic signals. Only Cook and seven other counties, all near Chicago and St. Louis, may do so under current law.
“They have this back where I come from,” said Rockford College student Ryan Soto, 23, formerly of Bolingbrook. “People shouldn’t be running red lights anyway. This will cut down on bad driving.” […]
City Legal Director Patrick Hayes said motorists running red lights is an event that
occurs with an “unfortunate” level of frequency.“Our Police Department has plenty of things to do besides sit at intersections and watch people disobeying (the law),” he said.
Wednesday, a House committee voted 9-0 in favor of the bill, sending it to the House floor for consideration.
Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford and the bill’s sponsor, doesn’t anticipate opposition. But Hayes expects to hear from critics convinced that local governments use such cameras to generate more cash through fines.
Here is an overview of Jefferson’s bill. The full text is here, with the relevant changes at the very bottom.
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized
4 Comments Add your own
1. Timmy | March 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Fantastic! So now we’ll just get a ticket without some sort of police discretion over why we ran the red light
2. thedudeabides | March 6th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
See this story:
“Man Fights City Hall Over Red-Light Camera Ticket”
Ticket Issued During Funeral Procession As Police Waved Man Through Light
http://www.nbc10.com/news/15296359/detail.html?dl=mainclick
3. Conor Brown | March 6th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
This is not a public saftey issue. This is simply another tax on motorists. AAA even yanked their support in DC when they were shortening the yellow lights to generate more revenue.
“Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the data reinforce the motor club’s view that the red-light effort is targeted more at generating revenue than at reducing crashes. “They are making a heck of a lot of money, and they are picking the motorists’ pockets on the pretense of safety,” he said”
DC Red-Light Cameras Fail to Reduce Accidents
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301844_pf.html
If you thought the vehicle stickers were unpopular, just wait until these traffic cameras are installed.
4. Some1WhoGetsIt | March 10th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Good link Conner. thanks
The only way this will float is if the ticket is issued to the driver of the vehicle and not the registered owner of the vehicle. This is currently not the case in Chicago.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed