Posted by John Byrne at 12:59 p.m.
Aldermen today questioned whether Chicago’s red light cameras are making drivers safer or simply filling city coffers during debate on a measure that would offer traffic school for drivers whose violations are caught on film.
Only about 35,000 of the 790,000 drivers who got red light tickets last year requested a hearing to challenge the $100 fine, according to Scott Bruner, director of the city’s Department of Administrative Hearings.
That prompted Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, wondered if the controversial cameras are having any deterrent effect.
"So I guess the myth that we apparently have held out that this is some kind of a great plan to create education and a plan to dissuade people from violating the law is more a myth than anything else," Burke said.
"It’s a money machine, that’s all. Period," he added.
Burke has introduced an ordinance to mandate traffic school for drivers nabbed by red light cameras. He hopes teaching violators about the potential for a crash will do more than just a fine to convince them to stop.
Burke proposed charging an additional $25 per violation for the cost of traffic school. But during debate today, he talked about using it as an incentive, and lowering the $100 fine for those who complete a traffic safety class.
The committee did not vote on the proposal. But Ald. Bernard Stone, 50th, argued the city’s administrative hearings officers may already be in violation of the state law governing red light cameras because the law mentions traffic school as a possible sentence for drivers caught by a red light camera, yet the city currently doesn’t offer school.
"If a defendant appearing before an administrative hearing officer said ‘I choose under state law to attend a class as provided under state law,’ what would your hearing officer do?" Stone asked Bruner.
"We would have to see what we could do to accommodate that," Bruner said.
Ald. Ray Suarez, 31st, told Bruner the city should try to piggyback on the Cook County Circuit Court’s traffic school system in order to comply with state law.
"You’re not giving people options," Suarez said. "You’re just saying ‘This is it, take it or leave it. Good-bye.’"