speed limits

Some motorists are complaining about a new speed camera along the busy 3200 block of Archer Avenue in McKinley Park. The accusations of a "speed trap" focus on the camera's location, which is not immediately adjacent to the small park that, under Chicago's "safety zones" rules, justifies the camera's placement. But the camera is located in a part of Chicago where speeding is endemic and crashes are frequent.

Slow-speed zones are an increasingly widespread tactic to improve street safety and urban livability. Inspired by a German town that limited motor vehicle speeds to 30 kilometers per hour -- or roughly 19 miles per hour -- British activists have made 20 mph zones a core street safety policy across the nation.