Court Ruling Clears Way For More Red-Light Cameras

A federal appeals court has given the green light to red-light cameras that have pumped out more than a million Chicago tickets and generated $100 million in sorely-needed revenue since 2003.

The ruling by the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals preserves one of the city's few revenue sources not subject to the economic downturn -- and clears the way for a major expansion that will install cameras at more than 330 accident-prone Chicago intersections by 2012.

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Comments

[JScott]

Need more of em in LA I know of 3 intersections where there are times where no left turns are allowed and yet drivers continually make the illegal left turns during those times and the only time they are caught is when a police car is stationed nearby.

[Eric8869]

If these cameras cause people to not block busy intersections so the traffic can actually "go" when the light turns green then I am all for it.

However I do think it would be better if these tickets were by real police officers and not by mail. Human beings can determine wether a person deserves a ticket or not. They have DISCRETION - cameras do not have that.

If you have to go through a red light because you have been shot and are trying to get to the hospital. A police officer will help you and most likely won't ticket you. (or if you are going into labor etc) or what about our crazy weather - what if it's too dangerous to stop on the ice etc.

and WHY are the tickets $100??? that is a little steep for turning while the light is red.

[1logicalthinker]

$100? In California, the minimum ticket for a red light is $370, and that is before penalties!

[KKojei]

I don't care what you call it, what the reasoning is, enforcement should not be about revenue. That's been the problem all along and what it amounts to ultimately is a kind of legalized extortion. Highway robbery! The same with the tow truck racket. The moment money enters the picture, along with it comes abuse. The abuse, by municipalities, of citizens is rampant coast to coast. It is a silent drain on our economy by bureaucracies who feel no need to open the books to tell us just how much money they rake in and what happens to it. We pay taxes for services but that is not enough for wasteful bureaucrats We have to pay for restraining orders and other city services that our taxes supposedly provide for? Take the money out of it and see if all that righteous desire to enforce the law remains. Make the fines community service only and do some good for communities for a change. I promise you, if the city managers, administrators, court clerks, judges, social workers and other supposed public servants were actually doing their jobs governors would not be needing trillions of dollars from the fed to balance budgets. Open the books dammit. Let have an audit before you install more cameras.