Chicago Votes In Favor of Speed Cameras

T

he Chicago City Council approved a bill this week to install speed cameras near parks and schools throughout the city in order to curb speeders. The vote passed 33 to 14. While some argue that the cameras are just another way to generate revenue for the city, Mayor Rahm Emanuel insists the primary goal is public safety. 

Violators of the law will be issued a ticket via the mail, with fines up to $100. Speeders who drive six to 10 miles per hour over the speed limit will pay $35, whereas speeders who drive 11 miles per hour or faster over the limit will have to pay $100. It's a steep fee, one that can easily be seen as a cash grab.

"If people don't want a ticket, obey the law. Drive the speed limit." -- Alderman James Balcer

Alderman Ray Suarez said, "This camera ordinance will bring a lot of safety to Chicago, our communities."

Though the bill did pass, Emanuel scaled back the hours the cameras would operate to fewer hours than are allowed by state law, which was the initial duration of use he pushed last fall.

Other voters in favor of the bill include Alderman James Balcer, who described how he was "hit by a car and almost killed" in 1958 when he was eight years old. "It was a traumatic experience in my life. The safety cameras are good. They will save lives, not only of our children, but the elderly, the disabled, the infirm...If people don't want a ticket, obey the law. Drive the speed limit."

But the cameras' accuracy is called into question, and rightly so—many people's car's speedometers aren't 100% accurate, so you could think you're going 25 in a 20, but really you're going 28, and thus you'd get slammed with a ticket.

[Source: Chicago Tribune]