Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about speed cameras

Lightfoot’s budget narrowly passes, with downsides for transit riders and motorists alike

By John Greenfield | Nov 24, 2020 | No Comments

The budget diverts $16 million in operations funding from the CTA. It also raises the city gas tax by three cents and drops the speed camera ticket threshold to 6 mph.

Illustration, Rachel Duggan, Chicago Reader

COVID-19 isn’t a good time to start ticketing drivers for going 6 MPH over the speed limit

By John Greenfield | Oct 27, 2020 | No Comments

While doing so might be a win for traffic safety in the short term, the strategy raises some economic and racial equity concerns, and would surely lead to renewed calls to abolish the cams.

IDOT blamed a 50-car pileup on the Kennedy Expressway on April 15 on drivers going "way too fast" for conditions. Image: CBS Chicago

Your suspicion is right: People have been speeding more during Stay at Home

By Steven Vance | Apr 29, 2020 | No Comments

Chicago speed camera data shows that more tickets were issued during a three-week period during Stay at Home than at any other time in more than a year.

CDOT installed speed cameras by Gompers Park, Foster and Pulaski, in 2014. Photo: Steven Vance

CDOT Will Install Speed Cams at 5 Locations Where Residents Requested Them

By John Greenfield | Jul 3, 2018 | 24 Comments

The cams have been proven to reduce crashes, and support from locals gives the city political cover to implement this often-unpopular technology.

More than 112,500 people were killed in speeding-related crashes from 2005 to 2014 . Image: NTSB

NTSB: Speed Kills, and We’re Not Doing Enough to Stop It

By Stephen Miller | Jul 27, 2017 | No Comments

More than 112,500 people lost their lives in speed-related crashes from 2005 to 2014, accounting for 31 percent of all traffic deaths in America over that period. In a draft report released earlier this week, the National Transportation Safety Board says excessive speed is a deadly problem in our nation's transportation system -- one that federal and state officials aren't doing enough to address.

Here’s Looking at You, Kidwell: The Tribune’s Anti-Traffic Cam Reporter Has Left the Paper

By John Greenfield, Payton Chung and Steven Vance | Apr 3, 2017 | 16 Comments

Investigative reporter David Kidwell broke the Redflex bribery scandal and pressured the city to make reforms to the red light camera program, but much of his reporting on automated enforcement was misleading and betrayed an apparent personal bias against traffic cams.

Chicago Joins Vision Zero Network While Pedestrian Fatality Rate is in Flux

By Steven Vance | Feb 4, 2016 | 8 Comments

At yesterday’s quarterly meeting of the Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council, Chicago Department of Transportation commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld mentioned the “somber” statistics that there was a significant increase in Chicago pedestrian fatalities in 2015 compared to previous years. There were 35 pedestrian deaths in the city in 2014, according to official Illinois Department of Transportation figures, and […]

Silly Tribune, Speed Cameras Aren’t Just for Kids — They Make Everyone Safer

By John Greenfield | Nov 25, 2015 | 61 Comments

[Today the Chicago Reader launched a new weekly transportation column written by Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield. This partnership will allow Streetsblog to extend the reach of our livable streets advocacy. We’ll be syndicating a portion of the column on the day it comes out online; you can read the remainder on the Reader’s website […]

Trib Launches War on Speed Cams, CDOT Releases Data Showing They Work

By John Greenfield | Nov 19, 2015 | 29 Comments

The Chicago Tribune’s David Kidwell and his colleagues have written extensively about the city’s red light camera program. Some of that reporting has been constructive, including revelations about the red light cam bribery scandal, unexplained spikes in ticketing, and cameras that were installed in low-crash locations during the Richard M. Daley administration. Other aspects of the […]

Crashes Doubled After Houston Banned Red Light Cameras

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 12, 2015 | No Comments

Law enforcement officers warned there would likely be an uptick in collisions when Houston debated banning red light cameras in the early part of the decade. Turns out they were absolutely right. Houston voters banned the life-saving technology in 2010, with the press mostly cheering them along. Last year Houston PD examined how that’s impacted safety at intersections. According […]

More Steps Emanuel Should Take to Reform Chicago’s Traffic Cam Program

By John Greenfield | Apr 15, 2015 | 47 Comments

Even if you voted for Chuy García, if you know how effective automated enforcement has been for preventing serious crashes in other cities, you may be relieved he didn’t get a chance to shut down all of Chicago’s traffic cameras. However, García and the other challengers did residents a service by drawing attention to ways that the Emanuel […]

The Real Reason There Are Speed Cams by Challenger Park

By John Greenfield | Nov 7, 2014 | 32 Comments

Uptown’s Challenger Playlot Park is the poster child for the anti-traffic camera crowd. Along with Mulberry Playlot Park, in the McKinley Park neighborhood, Challenger is frequently cited as a small, little-used park that’s not even visible from the locations of speed cameras that are supposedly there to protect park users. This is proof, according to […]

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