Residents Protest to Abolish Red-light Enforcement and Speed Cameras
Community activists in Chicago, led a red-light enforcement and speed camera protest and petition drive recently in an ongoing effort to obtain enough signatures to place a referendum (a general vote by a body of people entitled to vote on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct decision) on the ballot for the 2014 general election, to abolish red light and speed light cameras.
“We’re outraged,” said WVON Talk Show Host, Mark Wallace who stood with Citizens to Abolish Red-light Cameras the near a recently erected speed-light camera at the intersection of 53rd Street and Cottage Grove last month on. “We started the petition drive in the spring and now have over 40,000 signatures.”
Chicago began its red-light camera enforcement in 2003, with the city’s pilot program at Peterson and Western and 55th and Western Avenues.
Wallace said the group needs 56,000 signatures to have the matter placed on the ballot but the goal is to collect 100,000 signatures.
“The goal is to have all red-light and speed cameras removed,” Wallace said adding the cameras also pose a financial hardship for African Americans who already face high unemployment.
When asked to respond to Wallace’s claims as to where red-light and speed cameras are installed, Chicago’s Transportation Department spokesperson, Pete Scales said, “The red-light cameras have been in operation for more than a decade now. “Speed cameras have only been up a couple of weeks, and are just beginning to issue tickets. However, in the next couple of days, I should have some stats about how the number of speeding events have dropped dramatically from the first week they were issuing warnings, to the first weeks they were issuing tickets. The cameras are starting to change drivers' behavior already.
As for where they’re placed, Scales said. “I believe the cameras are distributed widely, across the city based on crash data and not by politics or race.”
Chicago resident Tim Hughes was driving near the protest and stopped to sign the petition.
“It doesn’t make sense that this speed camera is here,” said Hughes pointing to the speed camera at 53rd Street and Cottage Grove intersection. “If it was here for school safety I could understand but it’s all about money.”
Volunteer Shirley Underwood said, “It’s like (former Chicago Mayor Richard) Daley drained the financial barrel, and (Mayor Rahm) Emanuel is scrapping the bottom. These cameras will have a negative impact on the Black community.”
Todd Grisby signed the petition saying, “It’s a sham. These cameras do not reduce or cause a significant drop in speeding.”
Asked if the number of car crashes decreased where the red-light cameras were installed, Scales deferred to the City of Chicago’s Red-light camera crash analysis posted on the City’s website.
The City’s analysis show a slight overall decrease in total crashes that went from 22.67 to 20.81 from 2005 to 2010 for intersections that went live in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
However, what’s hard to ignore is the significant number of rear-end crash increases at various intersections.
For instance, based on the City’s data, cameras were installed at the 79th Street and Cottage Grove intersection in 2007. In 2005, there were 17 crashes total in that area; five were angle crashes, two were rear-impact crashes. In 2010, the data show an increase to 19 total crashes at that intersection, one angle crash and 10 rear-end crashes, an 11.8 percent total increase, an 80 percent decrease in angle crashes but a whopping, 400 percent rear-end upsurge.
Other intersections show increases anywhere from 100 up to 550 percent in rear-end crashes.
When asked if the significant increase in rear-end crashes at some intersections caused concern enough for the City to consider removing the red-light cameras, Scales said, “In some cases the rear-end crashes did increase but we are focused on eliminating the right-angle crashes which has a higher rate of injury than rear-end crashes.
Angle crashes listed in the data did show declines at the various intersections with the intersection at 35th and California reporting a 300 percent decline in angle crashes in 2010.
Citing Illinois Department of Transportation data, that reportedly show a significant reduction in serious crashes at certain intersections, Mayor Emanuel announced Oct.2, removal of 36 red-light-enforcement cameras at 18 intersections across Chicago.
“Automated traffic enforcement, whether through red-light or speed cameras, is about changing drivers’ behavior,” said Mayor Emanuel in a press release. “The cameras at these intersections are now showing a low level of crashes and dangerous angle crashes, which means an enhanced level of safety."
Fourth Ward Ald. Will Burns, said he opposed the newly installed speed-camera at 53rd and Cottage Grove.
"The City Council debated Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Children's Safety Zone ordinance. The ordinance, often referred as the speed cameras ordinance, permits the City of Chicago to install speeding enforcement cameras in school and park zones. I voted against the ordinance, because I disagreed with the administration on ticketing speeders between six and ten miles over the speed limit. I also believed that the operating hours of the cameras should be harmonized between the parks and the schools so that every Chicagoan would be aware that the cameras are on between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. These suggestions were not incorporated in the ordinance that passed on Wednesday. Finally, I heard from many Fourth Ward residents who expressed strong opposition about the ordinance, and as a consequence I voted my ward's position."
The 18 intersections where red-light cameras were removed are:
Osceola and Touhy Avenues
Kedzie and Devon Avenues
Harlem and Higgins Avenues
Sheridan Road and Hollywood Avenue
Austin and Belmont Avenues
Cicero and Belmont Avenues
Halsted and Belmont Avenues
California and North Avenues
Wells and North Avenues
Kostner Avenue and Division Street
Clark Street and Cermak Road
California Avenue and 35th Street
California Avenue and 47th Street
Pulaski Road and 71st Street
Wentworth Avenue and 69th Street
Racine Avenue and 79th Street
79th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue
Stony Island Avenue and 89th Street
Red-light enforcement cameras still remain at the following locations:
1 2080 W Pershing Rd
2 2864 W Ogden Ave
3 2912 W Roosevelt Rd
4 2917 W Roosevelt
5 3034 W Foster Ave
6 3100 W Augusta Blvd
7 3434 W 71ST ST
8 3646 W Madison St
9 3655 W Jackson Blvd
10 3843 S Western Blvd
11 4124 W Foster Ave
12 471 W 127th St
13 5120 N Pulaski Rd
14 5330 Cottage Grove
15 6824 S Kedzie Ave
16 6909 S Kedzie Ave
17 Ashland-47th
18 Ashland-63rd
19 Ashland-71st
20 Ashland-87th
21 Ashland-95th
22 Ashland-Archer
23 Ashland-Cortland
24 Ashland-Diversey
25 Ashland-Division
26 Ashland-Fullerton
27 Ashland-Garfield
28 Ashland-Irving Park
29 Ashland-Lawrence
30 Ashland-Madison
31 Austin-Addison
32 Austin-Belmont
33 Austin-Diversey
34 Austin-Irving Park
35 Broadway-Foster
36 Broadway-Sheridan-Devon
37 California-31st
38 California-35th
39 California-47th
40 California-Devon
41 California-Diversey
42 California-Irving Park
43 California-North
44 California-Peterson
45 Canal-Roosevelt
46 Central-Addison
47 Central-Belmont
48 Central-Chicago
49 Central-Diversey
50 Central-Fullerton
51 Central-Irving Park
52 Central-Lake
53 Central-Madison
54 Cicero-47th
55 Cicero-Addison
56 Cicero-Archer
57 Cicero-Armitage
58 Cicero-Belmont
59 Cicero-Chicago
60 Cicero-Diversey
61 Cicero-Fullerton
62 Cicero-Harrison
63 Cicero-Lawrence
64 Cicero-North
65 Cicero-Peterson
66 Cicero-Stevenson
67 Cicero-Washington
68 Clark-Cermak
69 Clark-Chicago
70 Clark-Fullerton
71 Clark-Irving Park
72 Clark-Ridge
73 Cornell-57th
74 Cottage Grove-71st-South Chicago
75 Cottage Grove-79th
76 Cottage Grove-95th
77 Damen-63rd
78 Damen-Blue Island
79 Damen-Diversey-Clybourn
80 Damen-Division
81 Damen-Fullerton-Elston
82 Dr Martin Luther King-31st
83 Elston-Addison
84 Elston-Irving Park
85 Elston-LaPorte-Foster
86 Elston-Lawrence
87 Halsted-103rd
88 Halsted-111th
89 Halsted-115th
90 Halsted-119th
91 Halsted-63rd
92 Halsted-79th
93 Halsted-83rd
94 Halsted-95th
95 Halsted-99th
96 Halsted-Belmont
97 Halsted-Division
98 Halsted-Fullerton-Lincoln
99 Halsted-Madison
100 Halsted-North
101 Halsted-Roosevelt
102 Hamlin-Lake
103 Hamlin-Madison
104 Harlem-Addison
105 Harlem-Belmont
106 Harlem-Higgins
107 Harlem-Northwest Highway
108 Homan-Kimball-North
109 Illinois-Columbus
110 Jeffery-79th
111 Jeffery-95th
112 Kedzie-26th
113 Kedzie-31st
114 Kedzie-47th
115 Kedzie-55th
116 Kedzie-63rd
117 Kedzie-71st
118 Kedzie-79th-Columbus
119 Kedzie-Armitage
120 Kedzie-Belmont
121 Kedzie-Devon
122 Kedzie-Irving Park
123 Kilpatrick-Irving Park
124 Kimball-Lincoln-McCormick
125 Kostner-Division
126 Kostner-Grand-North
127 Kostner-Ogden
128 Kostner-Roosevelt
129 LaSalle-Kinzie
130 Lafayette-87th
131 Lake Shore-Belmont
132 Laramie-Fullerton
133 Laramie-Irving Park
134 Laramie-Madison
135 Milwaukee-Devon
136 Milwaukee-Diversey
137 Milwaukee-Montrose
138 Nagle-Foster
139 Narragansett-55th-Archer
140 Narragansett-Fullerton
141 Narragansett-Irving Park
142 Oak Park-Grand
143 Osceola-Touhy
144 Pulaski-55th
145 Pulaski-63rd
146 Pulaski-71ST
147 Pulaski-79th
148 Pulaski-Archer-50th
149 Pulaski-Armitage
150 Pulaski-Belmont
151 Pulaski-Cermak
152 Pulaski-Chicago
153 Pulaski-Diversey
154 Pulaski-Division
155 Pulaski-Foster
156 Pulaski-Fullerton
157 Pulaski-Irving Park
158 Pulaski-Lawrence
159 Pulaski-Montrose
160 Pulaski-North
161 Pulaski-Peterson
162 Pulaski-Roosevelt
163 Racine-79th
164 Sacramento-Chicago
165 Sacramento-Lake
166 Sheridan-Foster
167 Sheridan-Hollywood
168 State-63rd
169 State-75th
170 State-79th
171 Stony Island-76th
172 Stony Island-83rd
173 Stony Island-89th
174 Stony Island-95th
175 Stony Island-79th-South Chicago
176 Stony Island-Cornell-67th
177 Vincennes-111th
178 Vincennes-87th
179 Wells-North
180 Wentworth-69th
181 Wentworth-Garfield
182 Western-35th
183 Western-47th
184 Western-51st
185 Western-55th
186 Western-63rd
187 Western-71st
188 Western-79th
189 Western-Addison
190 Western-Armitage
191 Western-Cermak
192 Western-Chicago
193 Western-Devon
194 Western-Diversey-Elston
195 Western-Foster
196 Western-Fullerton
197 Western-Lawrence
198 Western-Madison
199 Western-Marquette
200 Western-Montrose
201 Western-North
202 Western-Pershing
203 Western-Peterson
204 Western-Pratt
205 Western-Touhy
206 Western-Van Buren
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