In fact, the report showed 16 Chicago speed cameras were found to cause a “marked” increase in collisions and suggested the city decommission the devices.
While the data showed cameras generally reduced the expected number of severe and fatal collisions around camera sites by 15%, the report also found 3 in 10 of these speed cameras did not improve safety. Overall, researchers studying Chicago’s speed cameras from the period of 2015 to 2017 found mixed results on their ability to boost safety but clear indications tickets disproportionately harmed the city low-income and minority residents. He said as a physician, he’s all too familiar with the results of traffic crashes and would support devices that made streets safer. “A ticket isn’t life or death for the city, but for parents, that’s taking bread out of the mouths of their children,” Gumucio said. The cameras were introduced in 2013.ĬBS Chicago investigators found fatal collisions increased near speed cameras in the 12 months after the policy went into effect, despite ticketing rates skyrocketing eight-fold.Īnd a University of Illinois-Chicago study commissioned by the city before Lightfoot’s policy went into effect concluded there was “little relationship between the number of tickets issued and the safety impact of cameras. The lower ticketing threshold has faced continual pushback from aldermen after reports found it doubled city ticket revenues while failing to improve traffic safety.Ĭity data shows traffic deaths in the first six months of 2022 were the highest they had been for the same period back through 2017. Lightfoot introduced her stricter speeding policy March 1, 2021, after the spike in traffic fatalities during 2020. So far in 2022, Chicago speed cameras have issued a ticket every 14 seconds, generating over $207,000 a day in revenue for the city. Of the $36 million in fines so far this year, two-thirds, or $23.7 million, came from the $35 tickets Lightfoot approved issuing for driving 6 to 10 mph over the limit.
That was nearly as much ticket revenue as the city collected in all 12 months of 2020, before the speed tolerance was lowered. The most recent data shows Chicago speed cameras fined motorists $36 million by June 25, 2022.
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The full council is now set to vote July 20 on a proposal to return the speed camera threshold to 1o mph. Lightfoot’s allies delayed an anticipated repeal of the policy on June 22, allowing her time to pressure aldermen to keep the speed camera policy as is. “Now this policy is punishing the same people that are trying to go out and just put food on their tables.” “Lightfoot’s policy fails to recognize that the pandemic and unprecedented inflation has taken away the ability for many Chicagoans’ to earn a living,” said Gumucio, who lives in the Sauganash neighborhood. He said the policy is punishing Chicagoans trying to make a fresh start after the pandemic. Ramiro Gumucio – his first speeding fines in three decades. Creating a new fee structure for speeding 6-10 mph by itself brought in $59 million last year, prompting criticism that Lightfoot’s policy is about money rather than safety. March 2021 is when Mayor Lori Lightfoot lowered the ticketing threshold for city speed cameras to 6 mph over the limit in what she said was an effort to improve safety.Ĭhicago aldermen are expected to vote July 20 on repealing the lower speed camera limit over concerns it is disproportionately impacting low-income residents without delivering the promised safety benefits. Two-thirds of the fines were for speeding 6-10 mph.Ĭhicago reported more fatal traffic accidents in the first six months of 2022 than in any first six months since 2017, despite speed cameras issuing over 1 million tickets – as many tickets as Chicago has households.Īn Illinois Policy Institute investigation found 72 Chicagoans died in traffic collisions before July, 11 more than the previous record level reported for the first six months of 2021. 1M Chicago speed camera tickets fail to stop record traffic deathsĬhicago reported more traffic deaths in the first six months of 2022 than in any year since 2017, despite speed cameras issuing over 1 million tickets – as many tickets as Chicago has households.
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