Speed Camera Hours? Alderman Proposes Shutting Off Cameras When School Ends

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been adamant that his speed camera plan is about safety, not generating revenue. So perhaps he'll be amenable to Ald. Anthony Beale's (9th) proposal that cameras near school zones be shut off an hour after students are dismissed.

"We have to make sure it doesn't run 'til 8 or 9 o'clock because schools are out at 3 o'clock," Beale said, according to WLS. "So it shouldn't run past 4 o'clock even if there's an after school program."

Governor Pat Quinn signed off on the measure earlier this month, which provides for cameras to be added at stoplights near schools and safety zones, and for existing red-light cameras to be retrofitted to also record speeds. Tickets for $50 will automatically be issued to the owners of vehicles recorded moving between six and 10 mph above the speed limit, with higher speeds earning a $100 price tag per infraction.

Emanuel pushed for the legislation's approval despite overwhelmingly negative feedback from voters. A Huffington Post poll on the topic found roughly 87 percent of respondents opposed the plan, and The Expired Meter reported that more than 90 percent of calls fielded by Quinn's office about the bill were against it.

The legislation now heads to Beale's desk. As chairman of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, the law's terms will be debated by his team for approval before implementation.

Ald. Pat O'Connor (40th) disputed Beale's argument, noting that in his North Side community, schools often function as "community centers" and have children on site late into the evening, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. O'Connor, the mayor's City Council floor leader, did concede that the program should be instituted gradually, a nod to Beale's complaints that the sudden onset of such high penalties is unfair to city residents.

But Emanuel told WLS he's unsympathetic to concerns about the plan's fairness to speeding drivers.

"The victim is a child hit by a car going 10 to 15 miles per hour over the limit near a school zone. The victim is not a speeder." Emanuel said, according to WLS.

Comments

[PulSamsara]

09:54 AM on 03/08/2012

They can record our every move - but we cant record our own police while 'serving the public'.

The city dat works !

[PulSamsara]

09:39 AM on 03/08/2012

City of Chicago - Stop STEALING from your tax paying citizens !

Balance the bloated city budget by eliminating patronage and graft.

Enough with $80k city workers who would make $40k in the private sector. Enough with stuffing connected families with these city welfare 'jobs'.

Chicago needs a new voting block - made up of the tax payers who prop this entire city up !

Enough !

[Eric8869]

05:04 PM on 02/17/2012

My problem with these cameras it the lack of common sense, the removal of the judgement of a police officer and no way for a common person to fight the system when they feel they've been wronged. This is moving Chicago to a police state - it's scary.

[PulSamsara]

09:41 AM on 03/08/2012

If this had anything to do with the public good it wouldn't be half as bad.

It has NOTHING to do with the public good and everything to do with financing the machine of patronage and graft woven deeply through Chicago's governance.

[Beck65]

01:25 PM on 02/17/2012

Of course people are against it, who wants to follow rules and be responsible if they don't have to? I speed ALL THE TIME - if you speed you speed, quit your crying and go the speed limit, especially in a school zone! There is always something going on at a school drive a different way if you don't like it.

[Eric8869]

05:03 PM on 02/17/2012

People like you are the reason they will get away with making Chicago and Illinois a police state. Congrats.

[Beck65]

05:08 PM on 02/17/2012

Thanks

[PulSamsara]

09:43 AM on 03/08/2012

You really are a tool - in the classic sense. If you believe this has anything to do with public safety - you were born naive.

[chiGrkBoy]

08:04 AM on 02/17/2012

Let's just stop driving in school zones and look for more ways to not pay the city for anything. Let City Hall moan about deficits and wonder why middle class people move to the burbs.

[PulSamsara]

09:45 AM on 03/08/2012

You realize the percentage of Chicago that this is covered under, right ? It's huge. Has someone produced a map of this graft project ordinance yet ?

[robert horwitz]

08:01 AM on 02/17/2012

I didn't think it was possible that an Alderman would ever come up with a good idea. Congratulations Anthony Beale. I would like to write more about this but I'm so in shock that I have to go and put a Nitroglycerin Tablet under my tongue and lay down to keep from going into cardiac arrest.

[TheBossman]

11:29 PM on 02/16/2012

This is going to be a disaster for the City of Chicago police dept. These cameras will have had to capture a child in the picture or video in order for a 26+ mph speeding ticket to be legit. A child must be present... otherwise the 20mph reverts to the normal speed limit. The police are going to be throwing out 99% of the tickets which they must video review because the children are in school during most of the official school speed zone hours of 7am to 4pm.

I want everyone to join in and do something that makes the City of Chicago a lot safer if you live outside of Chicago but travel there by car. I want you to stop driving to Chicago. No cars or at least less cars will reduce the number of possible accident occurrences. Let's self ban cars in Chicago. I know I am committed to it. Don't the take the train either... just don't go to Chicago. We need to punish both the Mayor and the people that voted for him... and the beauty of it is that we are using his safety argument against him. One last thing, if you live in Chicago... LEAVE.

[DawnK]

04:28 PM on 02/16/2012

I never have and never willl vote for Rahm but I will also never vote for Quinn either. They bend over backwards for companies like sears that still layoff our states citizens so why don't they bend over backward for the actual citizen taxpayer? So sick of this city and state.

[ItAintNoRocketScience]

03:45 PM on 02/16/2012

Personally, I'm for leaving them on at all times. Every hour. Every day. All year long. There are more than students crossing streets near schools. Those intersections aren't closed off during non-school times. And with the problem of people running stop signs and red lights only increasing, I see the issue as one primarily of safety.

[Jacob Black]

04:21 PM on 02/16/2012

"And with the problem of people running stop signs and red lights only increasing­..."

What data supports that?

[ItAintNoRocketScience]

08:16 PM on 02/17/2012

Stand at any given intersection in the city for an hour and count the number of cars doing exactly that. That's all the data I need.

[DawnK]

04:30 PM on 02/16/2012

hey, here's an idea. Don't walk in front of moving cars. That idea seemed to work until a few years ago when the pussification of America was on its rise. I have never seen any study that said that people are increasingly running stop signs and red lights. That is made up. At some point people need to use their own frickin brains and I say it starts with crossing the street.

[ItAintNoRocketScience]

08:14 PM on 02/17/2012

Well, here's an idea for you Dawn. I cross an intersection everyday to get to my bus stop where cars routinely, blatantly run the red light, and while crossing in the crosswalk, with the walk signal, I've had to run back to the curb because drivers aren't paying attention and/or don't care. If a member of your family was hit and, God forbid, severely injured or killed by a driver who decided it was okay to ignore the traffic signal, I highly doubt you'd be screaming about the pussification of America.

[Anarchy4hire]

11:36 AM on 02/18/2012

awesome post...Soon we'll be wrapping everything in bubble wrap to protect the mental midgets...

[StuffMoreStuff]

11:44 AM on 02/16/2012

Thank you Beale!! This is the line of malarky they always give us..."but it's for the kids", if so, then surely they wouldn't have a problem shutting them down after school hours...

[vfurman]

11:58 AM on 02/16/2012

He is just making his play for a bigger piece of the pie. It's what Chicago Aldermen do.

[We the SHEEPle]

10:15 AM on 02/16/2012

We the SHEEPle should destroy the cameras, over & over until the PoliticalScumBag's get the message we voted against this invasion. Either that or institute public hangings!

[RahmCorpShill]

11:57 AM on 02/16/2012

Run for political office and I'd vote for you. Don't forget the bankers that caused the 2008 crash.

[PulSamsara]

09:49 AM on 03/08/2012

We should also destroy the PARKING METERS ! You know - the ones we used to own !

[AMlegion]

08:57 AM on 02/16/2012

" found roughly 87 percent of respondents opposed the plan, and The Expired Meter reported that more than 90 percent of calls fielded by Quinn's office about the bill were against it."

So let me get this straight. Voted for representatives just get to do what they want. Democracy at its finest.

[YourMindsEye]

06:24 AM on 02/16/2012

The only city that I can think of that gives Chicago a run for their money when it comes to being corrupt is Washington, DC., especially the past three years. Tell me again where Obama, and many of his cronies hail from. That's right, Chicago.

[The 5 Percent]

09:09 AM on 02/16/2012

Im no Obama fan and I hate the fact that I am trapped living in Chicago, but if you think the corruption in D.C. is worse because of Obama or because he is from Chicago you need to take off the Faux News colored glasses. This whole country has gotten more and more corrupt over many decades, from the local government level to the federal level. It is because the vast majority of politicians follow the will of thier campaign contributors and not the voters. That goes for Both political parties. Citizens United has open the flood gates for money in politics and that was done by a conservative supreme court, that is being influenced by money, not Obama! When you get trapped in the false dicotomy of republican vs. democrat you lose the vision to see that both parties favor the rich and could'nt care less about poor and working people!!

[DawnK]

04:35 PM on 02/16/2012

And how do you make the connection of red light cameras to Obama. That is just stupid.

[grapeape9807]

04:21 AM on 02/16/2012

Sounds like CHIGUY works in the mayor's office.

[vfurman]

11:51 AM on 02/16/2012

Yes, he can be quite the "Rahm apologist". But I am better he is from the Commercial Club instead. Probably getting a cut of the deal, like Juan Rangel.

[penndl]

03:26 PM on 02/16/2012

Hardly, sounds more like a giddy little foot stool. Whatever, just don't try to wake him.

[stelwel15]

01:05 AM on 02/16/2012

One of my best friends moms was hit and killed by a car as she was crossing the street to go into her son's football banquet dinner. I rarely feel sorry for speeders, and I have told my family straight out that I will never argue against their speeding tickets or DUI's in court.

Speeding in a school zone (any hour of the day) can save maybe a minute of someone's time, but that minute is not close to be worth the risk of harming someone. Kids are at school for practices, performances, and games during all hours.

[AMlegion]

09:01 AM on 02/16/2012

When I grew up I was taught to look both ways. And you know what...... I never got hit by a car.

With that being said there are times when drivers are not doing it right. But If your walking in the street..........