The Chainlink

Upset and concerned about the current rhetoric and plans on red light/speed cameras

Had some free time at work, found a list of Alderpeople that support it and emailed all them.

Found the list here: http://www.citizenstoabolishredlightcameras.com/candidates-pledge.html 
Emailed that group too, why not - chicagocoalitionforchange@gmail.com

Chicago City Council Members who have signed a pledge to rid of the cameras. 

Bob Fioretti 2nd
Pat Dowell 3rd
Leslie Hairston 5th
Roderick Sawyer 6th
Anthony Beale 9th
Toni Fowlkes 16th

Emails: 

service@6thwardchicago.com

2ndwarddemorg@gmail.com

ward03@cityofchicago.org

LHairston@cityofchicago.org

ward09@cityofchicago.org

Toni.Foulkes@cityofchicago.org

My email to all them:

Subject: Support for Keeping and Improving Red Light/Speed Cameras

As a person who walks and bikes in Chicago, I want to express my concern your support to have red-light and speed cameras gone. 

I feel incredibly safer on our city streets and sidewalks (and studies back up that I should) with these cameras around. This is one of the few things the city government has done recently that I love, please don't take this away from us. 

Not only for the "people should follow the law" reasoning (if you break the law there should be consequences) but also I know that if I am hit my a driver while on my bike or when walking across the street (both things that have happened to me), one of these cameras is likely to capture the collision. 

There are better measures to improve the system and reduce monetary fines than just get rid of them.

Please, please, stop your support getting rid of these. It makes our city better and safer.

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I'm still going to vote (doesn't feel right not too). But I feel it's picking the better of two options of which I don't agree with either, which still doesn't feel right. 

Rahm Emmanual is a lying **** of ***** who has done nothing but dismantle everything that actually worked in this city (unless you live in 1%-ville, of course.)  Are you saying I should go vote for someone I despise because the opponent has lost my vote?

Please explain to me how that would make sense.

With all that is relevant to managing a city the size of Chicago, it seems strange to me that people feel the red light cameras are the most important issue in this election.

I'm not sure that's the case Jeremy. Clearly Garcia never thought ahead to the possibility that he might actually end up in a runoff, so he found himself in the spotlight with no platform and this seems to be all he could come up with at first. Don't blame "the people."

Stopping for a yellow (never mind red) light does not cause rear-end collisions; not stopping for them does. This seems obvious, but a lot of people seems to miss it.

^^^ This.

Got a reply from the Citizens to Abolish Red Light Cameras: 

"Hi Renee,

Thank you fir your email and concern about Automated Traffic Enforcement in Chicago.

Your letter is just another testimonial against the system. You say you have been hit both biking and walking and yet you feel safe because of the cameras. Unless you were hit before 2003 those cameras were in place but didn't make you safer. You then say you want the cameras to record when you're hit the next time. Again, obviously you don't think the cameras will prevent you being hit but that's what the city says and somehow you bought although it hasn't been your experience. 

Thank you again for writing and for your interest in the safety of all out citizens, even the ones that drive cars and are hit with these fines of over $70 million a year and a marked increase of rear end collisions.

Don Bransford"


Not super clear what he is getting at, appreciate that he took the time to reply though, didn't think my email would make a point with them anyways. 

I thought for a second that was a reply from one of the alderman.... I gotta admire your tenacity in thinking there could be some benefit of trying to reason with these folks.

Figured why not, had their email, had time at work. At least they can hear from someone who doesn't feel safe on the streets and let them hear that their actions aren't helping. 

I don't feel the redlight cameras do anything but raise revenue for the city and whichever crony-capitalist private entity that is contracted with the city to operate & maintain them. The fact that the city has shortened yellow light times below the federal standards to increase the revenue speaks volumes. 

I'm all for increasing safety on the roads, but I'd like to see something which has been actually scientifically shown to be effective in overall reducing accidents as well as the severity/lethality of them -especially for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-automotive armored road-users.

That solution is simply lowering the speed limit to at least 25mph on all surface streets and enforcing it. 20 would be better but at least 25 would be a good first step.  Red-light cameras are nothing but a money-generating non-safety revenue plan for the city and Blackwater/LAZ or whatever private contractor/partner the city is using to install, operate, and maintain them.

IMHO, without meaningful slowing of traffic to safe speeds of 25mph or less,  red-light cameras are all sound and fury over nothing. 

Red light cameras are not the perfect solution but we don't seem to be able to afford to have bodies out there doing the enforcement. So how in the world would you even begin to enforce a universal 25 mph speed limit? I'm all ears.....

Effective enforcement would pay for itself.    They wouldn't even need cops doing it, just "meter-reader' level folks in camera-cars that would record everything on camera act as evidence in court if they try and fight it.  The software would make all the decisions, the human would be just riding along and handing out the ticket after pulling the offender over.   These folks don't need to be full cops, just drive the darn car around town and hand over the ticket to speeders when the computer goes BEEP.   They don't need a weapon, or use any type of lethal or less-than-lethal force other than their simple camera-car full of hard drives and GPS equipment to gather and store the evidence and pass it on to a central office along with the paperwork.   Set up special traffic courts to take the influx until people realize they aren't going to win against the evidence gathered against them.  The fines will pay for the costs. Make them high enough to do this.  Lay them on thick to the speeders.  They deserve it if they want to put everyone's life at risk on the roads.  I'm all for it. 

If a driver refuses to pull over and tries to run then forward it to dispatch and let them bring the hammer down with a real cop in an interceptor, or simply follow them to home/work/whatever and get them when they stop.  Add another fine for eluding an officer to the mix if they don't stop for the meter-reader who tried to pull them over.  That'll pay for the added costs.  Lay it on thick again. 

I think that if they started to actually enforce the speed limits everywhere with no fudge factor and gave out real tickets without any take-backs or warnings with fines of maybe  $25 for 1 each mph over and doubling for each and every MPH over 5mph over and again at 10mph over it'd get the point across that this city is NO LONGER going to accept speeding on its streets.  People will get the message that if they are speeding it is going to be a financial hurt.  Hit them in their pocketbooks. 

Sure, there are going to be folks who can afford to pay any fine but some sort of repeat-offender system could pull licenses for periods of time that increase with each recidivism.   Eventually these folks will be taken off the road, or put into jail or labor-camps to pay off their fines if they just can't stop speeding.  

This isn't rocket science.  Speed enforcement is nothing new if only the folks in charge have the balls to actually follow-through with it like they have in Edinburgh Scotland, then it might actually have some effect.

Whatever they are doing now isn't having ANY effect, on vehicle speeds other than them going UP.   But Emanuel or Chewy aren't gonna do this, because votes.  Democracy works... 

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