Chicago’s transportation commissioner on Friday defended Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to have automated speed cameras across the city issue speeding tickets to cars driving as little as 6 miles per hour over the posted limit, even as aldermen urged her to look at different ways to raise money to help balance the city’s books.
Commissioner Gia Biagi touted the safety benefits of lowering the threshold for $35 tickets to be mailed to drivers from the current 10 mph over the limit down to 6 mph over, which is included in Lightfoot’s 2021 budget plan. Seeking to close a $1.2 billion budget deficit, Lightfoot expects to raise an additional $38 million next year from fines, forfeitures and penalties, a total that includes the speed camera tickets.
Biagi talked at the Department of Transportation’s annual budget hearing about a “dramatic increase in vehicle speeds due to fewer vehicles on the road,” and “a crisis” in fatal crashes involving cyclists and motorists.
“This is why we’re using all the tools in our toolbox to combat unsafe driving … and this does include lowering speed limits anywhere we can, investing in rapid-delivery infrastructure projects to make streets safer for everyone, and using our automated speed enforcement program to deter speeding,” Biagi said.
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The Tribune reviewed city crash data and found a more complicated picture of the safety situation than the administration has presented, with total crashes actually down in the first nine months of 2020 compared with the same time period in 2019.
During Friday’s hearing, Southwest Side Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th, told Biagi it would make sense to install additional cameras on the existing speed camera poles in the vicinity of city parks and schools.
“If the thought process is capturing revenue while trying to once again convince everyone that this will slow down traffic as people get tickets, a second camera would capture the license plate that we’re missing on a lot of these,” O’Shea said.
Biagi said that is something the city will consider.
And West Side Ald. Michael Scott Jr., 24th, said the city should consider putting in new speed cameras in different locations entirely.
“I know that over the course of the last two years, I don’t think you’ve put in any new cameras. So are we looking, since this is a safety issue, are we looking at new traffic patterns?” Scott asked.
CDOT spokesman Michael Claffey said Friday that while the department appreciated the suggestions from aldermen, and will “continue to evaluate options,” the department has “no plans to expand speed cameras.”
South Side Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, told Biagi the lower ticket threshold seems like “a tail wagging the dog situation” in which the city will raise money on the backs of struggling Chicagoans.
And North Side Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, expressed concerns about “nickeling and diming” residents with a 6 mph threshold instead of simply adding new cameras to existing poles and keeping the enforcement parameters the same.
As a candidate, Lightfoot promised to reform the city’s fines and fees program, saying it was regressive and focused on generating revenue, not safety.
Biagi also told aldermen Friday that the city has been looking into deploying around the city “dynamic speed cameras” that can be moved from location to location.
Twitter @_johnbyrne
