Posted by Michelle Manchir at 1:02 p.m.; updated at 1:42 p.m. with How They Voted
SPRINGFIELD — Red-light camera tickets would be slightly harder to get and cheaper to appeal
under legislation the Illinois Senate approved today.
Senators voted 45-10 to send to the House a red-light reform plan that falls far short of the
sweeping overhaul demanded by critics of the automated devices. You can see how lawmakers voted by clicking here.
The
measure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and
hammered out in a closed-door meeting this month with other lawmakers and
lobbyists for Redflex and Redspeed, vendors hired to operate camera systems for
Chicago and many suburbs.
The legislation would ban the city and suburbs from tacking on an extra fee to
the standard $100 fine if a ticket is appealed, a common practice which deters
many motorists from fighting the charges.
The measure also would give
drivers more wiggle room to creep up to the edge of an intersection before
stopping. A complete stop would still be required before making a right turn on
red, but drivers could come to a halt after the painted stop line without
getting a ticket as long as pedestrians were not nearby. Drivers awaiting a
green light to head straight into an intersection also could make stops past the
stop line without being nabbed by a camera.
Statistics show that the most dangerous
red-light-running infractions involve drivers who barrel straight into an
intersection and become involved in broadside collisions. But most tickets
issued through cameras involve drivers who fail to come to a complete stop while
making a right turn on red — a violation that experts say rarely is
dangerous.
Rolling right turns would still be outlawed under the
Cullerton measure, but drivers would no longer be required to make their stop at
a white line several feet shy of the intersection.
Other changes
to the state red-light camera law that are included in Cullerton’s plan codified
what is already common practice. One provision mandates that yellow lights on
traffic signals be timed to comply with broad guidelines set by state
transportation officials, a standard that every community with cameras already
claims to meet.
Another provision requires that any ticketed vehicle
owner be able to access video of the alleged misdeed on the Internet. That is a
courtesy already widely offered by camera vendors.
Critics said the legislation doesn’t do all that much.