Chicago traffic deaths were up 45% last year as speeding increased during COVID
| | No Comments
Most of the increase was due to motorist deaths, but bicycle fatalities also spiked.
Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about speed cameras
City is now issuing warnings for 6 mph speed cam violations, $35 tickets after March 1
| | No Comments
We'll have a chance to see whether the change in ticketing protocols helps reduce the serious crash rate, and also whether it has any negative equity impacts.
Lightfoot’s budget narrowly passes, with downsides for transit riders and motorists alike
| | 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.
COVID-19 isn’t a good time to start ticketing drivers for going 6 MPH over the speed limit
| | 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.
Your suspicion is right: People have been speeding more during Stay at Home
| | 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 Will Install Speed Cams at 5 Locations Where Residents Requested Them
| | 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.
NTSB: Speed Kills, and We’re Not Doing Enough to Stop It
| | 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
| | 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
| | 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
| | 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
| | 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 […]