Naperville Kills Off Red Light Camera Program
One down, 83 more to go.
The Illinois Department of Transportation lists 84 municipalities with red light camera programs.
As of January 3, there will be one town less using cameras to enforce red light violations–west suburban Naperville.
According to the Daily Herald, in “a surprise move” , the Naperville city council voted to not renew their optional fourth year of their contract with their RLC vendor.
Part of the decision was made for the city council as two of the RLC locations (Rt. 59 & North Aurora Road and Route 59 & Diehl Road) were going to be yanked due to construction slated to begin near the end of 2012.
With those two locations out of commission, it left a single red light camera at the intersection of Ogden Ave. & Aurora Ave. According to the report, the intersection was only generating two red light violations a day, in effect costing the city more to operate the RLC unit than it was generating in revenue.
Here’s the Daily Herald’s full story, “Naperville red-light cameras to be turned off Jan. 3.”
So this is about revenue? I am confused because that is not what we have been told they were used for.
Mark,
Don’t you understand?!?
When traffic enforcement and safety cost money it’s a bad.
But, when enforcement generates revenue, then it’s good.
Having had appeared as an expert witness in a Naperville RLC case for a family relative, this much is clear. In spite visual proof of a defective traffic signal and other factors the hearing administrator found the owner liable for the $100 fine. The traffic signal is still broken, way to go IDOT.
Red light cameras drive people away from visiting towns that have them. This hurts local businesses which hurts the community as a whole.
If the red light cameras actually decreased accidents then maybe they’d be a good thing. But the studies are mixed, with some showing fewer accidents, and some showing more accidents.
Turns out the ones showing fewer accidents are completely deceiving. The red light camera data includes only accidents with $1500 worth of damage or greater. The non-red light camera data has only a $1000 cut-off (or sometimes $500) for reportable accidents.
So, well done Naperville. You have a great downtown area, and I will now be visiting it more.
Suburban kangaroo court judges NEVER under any circumstances dismiss a red light ticket. Chicago is bad, but suburbs are much worse.