{"id":473285,"date":"2010-03-25T14:02:01","date_gmt":"2010-03-25T18:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef01310fdd9e95970c"},"modified":"2010-03-25T14:42:08","modified_gmt":"2010-03-25T18:42:08","slug":"state-senate-approves-red-light-ticket-reform-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/473285","title":{"rendered":"State Senate approves red-light ticket reform plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by Michelle Manchir<\/em> at 1:02 p.m.; updated at 1:42 p.m. with How They Voted<\/strong><\/p>\n

SPRINGFIELD — Red-light camera tickets would be slightly harder to get and cheaper to appeal
\nunder legislation the Illinois Senate approved today. <\/p>\n

Senators voted 45-10 to send to the House a red-light reform plan that falls far short of the
\nsweeping overhaul demanded by critics of the automated devices. You can see how lawmakers voted by clicking here<\/a>.
<\/br>
<\/br>The
\nmeasure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and
\nhammered out in a closed-door meeting this month with other lawmakers and
\nlobbyists for Redflex and Redspeed, vendors hired to operate camera systems for
\nChicago and many suburbs.\n<\/p>\n

The legislation would ban the city and suburbs from tacking on an extra fee to
\nthe standard $100 fine if a ticket is appealed, a common practice which deters
\nmany motorists from fighting the charges.
<\/br>
<\/br>The measure also would give
\ndrivers more wiggle room to creep up to the edge of an intersection before
\nstopping. A complete stop would still be required before making a right turn on
\nred, but drivers could come to a halt after the painted stop line without
\ngetting a ticket as long as pedestrians were not nearby. Drivers awaiting a
\ngreen light to head straight into an intersection also could make stops past the
\nstop line without being nabbed by a camera.
<\/br>
<\/br>Statistics show that the most dangerous
\nred-light-running infractions involve drivers who barrel straight into an
\nintersection and become involved in broadside collisions. But most tickets
\nissued through cameras involve drivers who fail to come to a complete stop while
\nmaking a right turn on red \u2014 a violation that experts say rarely is
\ndangerous.
<\/br>
<\/br>Rolling right turns would still be outlawed under the
\nCullerton measure, but drivers would no longer be required to make their stop at
\na white line several feet shy of the intersection.
<\/br>
<\/br>Other changes
\nto the state red-light camera law that are included in Cullerton’s plan codified
\nwhat is already common practice. One provision mandates that yellow lights on
\ntraffic signals be timed to comply with broad guidelines set by state
\ntransportation officials, a standard that every community with cameras already
\nclaims to meet.
<\/br>
<\/br>Another provision requires that any ticketed vehicle
\nowner be able to access video of the alleged misdeed on the Internet. That is a
\ncourtesy already widely offered by camera vendors.<\/p>\n

Critics said the legislation doesn’t do all that much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-473285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}