Fox Chicago, BGA: Taxpayers On The Hook For CTA Bus Red Light Camera Tickets
Red-Light Cameras: Taxpayers Pay for CTA Bus Drivers’ Tickets: MyFoxCHICAGO.com
Fox Chicago News and the Better Government Association have also been looking into which city owned vehicles have been receiving red light camera tickets.
According to their reporting, vehicles in nearly every city department have been ticketed for red light camera violations since 2006.
But, as reported elsewhere, one in particular accounts for more than half.
The CTA.
Since 2006, CTA buses have racked up over 4800 RLC tickets.
In most cases, the city employee driving the city owned vehicle is held responsible for the $100 fine.
Not so with CTA bus drivers. Due to union work rules, the drivers cannot be made to pay the fines, so the taxpayer is on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. However, CTA bus drivers who receive RLC violations face disciplinary action and could be fired if they get more than four.
Here’s Fox’s full story, “Red-Light Cameras: Taxpayers Pay for CTA Bus Drivers’ Tickets.”
Once a bus barreled through a red light at full speed as I and my 8 year old son were about to step off the curb into the crosswalk, forcing us to jump back. This happened right in front of a cop who had the green light…the cop did nothing.
Could someone help me follow the money on this story? Because I’m confused. Taxes (and fares) pay for the CTA. Red light tickets collect money that bring revenue to the city. So if taxpayers are paying for the tickets doesn’t that just mean tax money is being moved around?
In theory, even more money could go to the city if bus drivers were paying the tickets out of their own pockets, but the current system isn’t a gain or a loss for the city. It’s not like taxpayers are getting an extra bill because of bus driver red light tickets.
Are people upset because they think the city should be making more money off of these tickets (making drivers pay)? Or, are they upset because they think the money currently being spent on tickets should stay with the CTA (instead of going wherever red light camera revenue goes)?
I’m not saying these complaints aren’t legitimate. I just wish the news organizations investigating this issue had spelled out the money issue in more detail than “OMG it’s taxpayer money.”
Chicago’s red light cameras do not recognize or care that larger heavier vehicles take more time and distance to stop than passenger cars. State and Federal governments divide vehicles into different weight classes for tax, license and other purposes. The heavier the vehicle the more strain and punishment it creates on the pavement so the cost of road maintenance and replacement is prorated according to vehicle weight. This is also why the more the axles a vehicle has the more tolls they pay. The city does not engineer each traffic signal’s timing needs as they will be required by the federal government to do in the future. The yellow light timing is many times inadequate creates a “dilemma zone” where there is not enough time to space to stop and not enough time to proceed through the intersection without getting a citation. Dilemma zones increase intersection dangers and are counterproductive to the stated camera mission. The City of Chicago employs no on-site process to visually verify and record traffic signal timing, why should they that may reduce the $64M annual ticket revenue stream. These $CAMERAS have been robbing most drivers blind since 2003. It’s time the ripoff robots were retired.
How bout being upset that bus drivers are running red lights? After all, that’s the purpose of those cameras, is to increase safety.
I wish I had a dollar for every time a CTA bus blatantly cut me off – just had it happen Friday. I was driving in the right lane on Jackson just west of Central. The bus was in the left lane. It’s a long stretch with no buildings, so the limit is about 40. There is a bus stop in the middle of the block and the bus suddenly swerved in front of me to get to the bus stop, and I had to brake and swerve to avoid hitting it.
I get the feeling a lot of the bus drivers simply have the attitude of “I’m bigger, so it’s your problem to watch out for me.”
Barnet Fagel wrote:
“Chicago’s red light cameras do not recognize or care that larger heavier vehicles take more time and distance to stop than passenger cars.”
“The yellow light timing is many times inadequate creates a “dilemma zone” where there is not enough time to space to stop and not enough time to proceed through the intersection without getting a citation.”
Just because a vehicle is heavier and takes longer distance to stop is no excuse for running a red light, though you may not have been saying that anyway…I just wanted to point that out. The driver of larger trucks and vehicles is responsible to drive a safe enough speed to ensure stopping in plenty of time to avoid accidents, running red lights, etc.
However, as you stated nicely above, the timing of the yellow lights in Chicago is way too short. An extra second of yellow would probably cure a world of ills.
But while this might bring about a safer driving environment, it would mean less revenue, which we all know is the real goal of red light cameras and short-timed yellow lights.
Red light cameras are just a cynical means to make money with improper and/or unethical traffic management policies. In almost every case when you have a camera that records any significant number of straight through violations, the yellow is too short for the ACTUAL approach speed of many of the vehicles. Simply adding 1.0 seconds to the yellows will normally drop the violation rate by MORE than the camera program. And fewer violations means greater safety. This IS the scam, Chicago knows it, the camera companies know it, and it is a deliberate decision to value the revenue more than they value safety. You can read a lot more on our website about how the scam works and how proper engineering changes yield greater safety. Maybe you will even join our organization to help get rid of this predatory scourge. Regards, James C. Walker, National Motorists Association, http://www.motorists.org, Ann Arbor, MI (and a frequent visitor to Chicago)
John Adams, you and I agree, though I should state that I have no tolerance for abusive bus drivers and feel they should pay their own tickets, but they must be given the choice as to whether they want to fight their citations. Since my research has shown that Chicago has no visual field process for accurately confirming traffic signal timing their timing is suspect. Couple bully bus drivers and short yellows and you have a perfect storm for revenue and crashes.
James C. Walker, I just added your website to my bookmarks. Thanks for posting that!
RLC’s should only be Used to Enforce Municipal Plated Vehicles…Period.
No Driver should be exempt because they are in an M or U plate vehicle.