Before & After data on a red light camera - Highland Park, Illinois
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15 years
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The Chicago Tribune has reported before-and-after data for a highway red light camera (US 41 at Park Avenue) operated by Redflex in Highland Park, an upscale suburb of Chicago. The data strongly suggest /shockface/ that the mayor of Highland Park is being disingenuous when she suggests the reason for red-light camera enforcement at this location is public safety, not revenue. Otherwise the city, which is entering contract renewal for continuation of the program, would be pulling the cameras and trying something else to improve public safety, because the cameras have not improved safety statistically.
In the two years before the cameras were installed at this intersection, the following data were recorded there:
2008: 64 accidents, 7 accidents with injuries.
2009: 62 accidents, 6 accidents with injuries.
Camera enforcement by Redflex began July 10, 2010, which makes interpretation of the 2010 statistics that were reported only for the year 2010 as a whole, difficult to interpret. Nonetheless the data show:
2010: 60 accidents (14 of which occurred in the two directions--southbound and westbound--in which camera enforcement occurs), 4 accidents with injuries (0 of which occurred in the enforcement directions). Camera revenue: $308,000
2011 (cameras out of service for four months, though this was not generally known at the time): 46 accidents (21 in the enforcement directions), 6 accidents with injuries (0 in the enforcement directions). Camera revenue: $467,000.
2012 (cameras out of service for five months): 64 accidents (34 in the enforcement directions), 10 accidents with injuries (5 in the enforcement directions). Camera revenue: $400,000.
First four months of 2013 (multiply these numbers by 3 to compare to other years): 18 accidents (10 in the enforcement directions), 3 accidents with injuries (2 in the enforcement directions). Camera revenue: $211,000.
The mayor of Highland Park is unfazed by the corruption issues involving Redflex in Chicago, 25 miles to the south, and says, "In all honesty, we're not using it as a revenue source. We're using it as an opportunity to diminish traffic accidents at what was a very dangerous corner."
The fine for a red-light camera ticket here: $100.
The nonrefundable fee to take a violation notice to court in appeal: $425. (Why is that even allowed?? There is not even a pretense of due process and fairness with that kind of stacked deck.)
I don't dispute that it's an accident-prone corner and that the accident rate is unacceptable. But the mayor is either statistically clueless or dishonest when she says it isn't about revenue. Statistically there has been no significant safety benefit to the red light camera program at this location. All it's doing is enhancing city coffers. It should be pulled. Shame on all of them.
No, I've never had a red-light camera ticket, there or elsewhere.
The story, not behind the Chicago Tribune paywall at the time of posting, can be found at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/highland_pa...
Whoa
$425 to contest a red light camera ticket? Really? What if you were sent a violation notice in error? It would be better to pay the $100, than $525.
It's clear that the intersection is no safer than it was before.
Money Money Money!
I see green all over
Val - Nuvi 785t and Streetpilot C340
Where is the ACLU when you need them?
Where is the ACLU when you need them?
How can this be a democracy when you must pay to face your accusers?
Zumo 550 & Zumo 665 My alarm clock is sunshine on chrome.
Sounds like this is the kind
Sounds like this is the kind of stuff that revolutions are made of - in this case a local one.
I fear the US has lost sight of governmental goals on behalf of it's citizens - in this area, at least.
I'd love to see an investigation done by a TV network exposing this kind of official theft.
Fred
It is a lose and lose again situation.
Pay $100 fine or pay $425 to contest it. You lose either way. This is really all about the money on this one.
Nuvi 2460LMT.
Problem averted...
Oddly enough, I drove through this intersection this past weekend. Thankfully, I had the POI files alerting me to the impending accident/ticket that was awaiting me.
US41-Park Av. in Highland Park
One of the interesting things about this intersection is that you can get on interstate highway on the east coast, and if you tank up and sleep at rest areas or otherwise avoid populated areas, this can be the first traffic light you encounter while staying on highways from the east coast or deep south. There used to be another traffic light two miles south on US41 which they removed with an overpass and underpass because they had some horrific northbound, rear-end collisions there caused by inattentive, sleepy, or speeding drivers who didn't seem to understand that they could be driving on what appeared to be an interstate highway (it wasn't but looked like one) and yet come up on a red light going over the limit at 65+ mph.
For the most part, moving the first red light two miles north worked. There are a lot of accidents at this intersection but not the horrific headline-making rear-end ones they had at the old intersection.
And for whatever reason (not that I'm complaining), the city of Highland Park and Redflex do not operate the camera in the northbound direction of US41 which has the safety issue of the first traffic light in many miles of highway. (Coming southbound on US41, there are traffic lights every few miles in this area--this is just the final one before you're automatically merged onto I-94 if you don't exit). It may be that Highland Park recognized the new danger of potential rear-end collisions involving northbound drivers slamming on the brakes to avoid a red-light camera ticket, so they didn't install them in that direction.
And I agree with all the above posts about the unfairness of the fee to appeal vs. fine used by Highland Park.
JMoo On
!
You just made me realize, the first couple of times I drove on Route 41, I hated it. It was because it's called "Skokie Highway," but it's a surface street in some areas. The way it's set up is very dangerous, and it's good that they changed the one intersection, but for people not familiar with the area, it is confusing.
Red light cameras are not going to fix the overall poor design, or make things safer.