Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about red light cameras

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 […]

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 […]

Yellow Journalism: Tribune Panics Over “Risky” Stoplight Timing

By Steven Vance and Payton Chung | Dec 23, 2014 | 35 Comments

Day in and day out for at least 30 years (and perhaps for almost a century), over 3,000 stoplights all across Chicago have whirred through tens of millions of cycles the exact same way: green, then yellow for three seconds, then red. Yet today, this three second cycle was suddenly declared a public safety emergency, […]

Why the Tribune’s Red Light Camera Story Is Garbage Journalism

By Steven Vance and Payton Chung | Dec 22, 2014 | 48 Comments

In a huge front-page story Friday, the Chicago Tribune published yet another installment in its long-running vendetta against the city’s photographic traffic enforcement program. Because the Trib chose to obscure key information about the severity of crashes, the story is worthless as an evaluation of the city’s red light camera program. The article lavishes attention […]

CDOT Tells Council Improved Red Light Cameras Might Mean More Tickets

By Steven Vance | Oct 30, 2014 | 31 Comments

Chicago Department of Transportation commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld told the City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian & Traffic Safety that equipment problems that have plagued the city’s red light camera enforcement program have mostly been resolved. Although some aldermen were there to pounce upon the media ruckus around the cameras, other aldermen understood that red light cameras can […]

Inspector General Issues a Reality Check on Trib’s Red Light Cam Spin

By John Greenfield | Oct 17, 2014 | 41 Comments

Last summer, the Chicago Tribune reported on the mysterious spikes in red light ticketing at dozens of cameras around the city. Recently, the paper discovered the city had started enforcing violations that took place after slightly shorter yellow phases. This resulted in tens of thousands of additional tickets. Given the track record of corruption in the […]

Breakthrough in Search for Hit-and-Run Driver, No Thanks to Police

By John Greenfield | Mar 20, 2013 | No Comments

The hunt for the motorist who ran over Dustin Valenta then fled the scene is one step closer, but the cyclist’s lawyer says it’s no thanks to the Chicago Police Department. Earlier today attorney Michael Keating received red light camera footage of the pick-up truck from the city in response to a request he filed […]