trib
We already have cameras on lights, vans parked on the expressway in constructions zones, now on regular streets...
Cameras may catch side street speeders
By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 26, 2005
Motorists who already are at risk of being nabbed by cameras for running red lights at dangerous Chicago intersections now may face the "long arm of the lens" if they speed down city side streets.
With what appeared to be strong support from his City Council colleagues, Ald. Thomas Allen (38th), chairman of the council's Transportation Committee, said Monday that he will draft an ordinance that would allow speeders caught by cameras in mobile radar-equipped vans to be ticketed.
Allen spoke after presiding at a committee meeting where aldermen complained of lack of police enforcement and a chronic speeding problem on neighborhood streets that they said puts children and other pedestrians in jeopardy.
"The police don't want to issue tickets because they don't want to sit in court and spend time ... to testify," said Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd).
"I would rather have real police," Allen said. But "we have no cops right now. `Robocop' is better than no cop at all."
RedFlex Traffic Systems Inc., the contractor providing Chicago's red light cameras, so far has sold photo radar systems to eight cities nationwide, said Mark Etsbach, a regional sales manager who spoke at Monday's meeting.
In Paradise Valley, Ariz., a camera system issues 19 speeding tickets to every one written by police, Etsbach said.
Illinois officials soon plan to use cameras to capture images of the faces and license plates of motorists who speed in construction zones on Chicago area expressways and toll roads. Violators will face fines starting at $375.
RedFlex outfits radar- and photo-equipped vans that record speed and time of the violation and snap a photo of the plate of the offending auto. The company's red light system in Chicago has fixed cameras at 20 intersections, a total that is to grow to 30 by year's end.
Tickets are issued by mail to violators, who can pay by mail or contest the ticket at an administrative hearing.
Because the motorist cannot question a police officer at a hearing, tickets are similar to parking citations and are not counted as moving violations.
John Holevoet, director of development for the National Motorists Association, a drivers' rights group, questioned the accuracy of speed detection equipment in the camera systems now on the market as well as the motives of cities that use them to catch violators.
"A lot of motivation for a lot of municipalities, including Chicago, is money," Holevoet asserted. "The municipality that I know of that uses the van technology is Washington, D.C., and this is a city run by a mayor who openly admits that money is one of the key components of the program."
But aldermen on Monday insisted that revenue is not the motivation behind their interest in a neighborhood speed crackdown.
Critics "will say we are out to make money," Allen said. "That is baloney. ... I am out to enforce what's on the books and to change behavior."
RedFlex vans cost about $100,000.
Ald. Virginia Rugai (19th), who has complained frequently about speeding in her Southwest Side ward, said she would consider using part of the $1.2 million in annual neighborhood improvement funds she controls to buy a van if Allen's proposal ultimately wins approval.
In other action, the council's Aviation Committee advanced a plan to build a consolidated rental car facility that would house all eight rental operators at Midway Airport. Customers would be assessed a $3.75 daily charge to help defray the $60 million to $70 million cost of the building, to be developed next to the airport's parking garage.
The move would free up 375 spaces in the garage now used for storage by some of the Midway rental operators, would cut rental car traffic around the airport and reduce rental car shuttle bus traffic to the terminal, officials said. Construction would begin next year with completion in 2007.
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