Crime & Safety
Safety Plan or Cash Grab? Speeding Camera Coming to 111th Street and Pulaski Road
A location in Mount Greenwood has been chosen as one of the 12 sites for Chicago's new speeding cameras.
Mount Greenwood has the lucky distinction of being one of a dozen locations in Chicago to be awarded a brand new speeding camera.
The camera will be located at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, 3857 W. 111th St., and will likely be installed sometime in September.
The cameras are part of a program dubbed the "Children’s Safety Zone Program" and a total of 50 locations will be chosen by the end of 2013 and the city has the potential to install 300 cameras in total, according to a city news release.
"[The program] protects children and other pedestrians by reminding motorists to slow down and obey speed laws – particularly in school and park zones,” said CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein in a news release.
The logistics of the program work like this:
- Enforcement hours are limited to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in safety zones around schools on school days (Monday through Friday);7 a.m. to 4 p.m.: 20 mph speed limit when children are present; 30 mph speed limit when no children are present; and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.: 30 mph speed limit
- Enforcement hours for cameras around parks are generally from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week and with a speed limit of 30 mph.
- $35 for vehicles traveling 6 to 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit while in a safety zone
- $100 for vehicles traveling 11 or more miles over the posted speed limit
In the details of the program released by the city, the funding could be used for a wide variety of projects or programs. Some like crossing guards, after school programs and more police officers around schools seem to fit in with the "for the kids" bent of the camera initiative. Others, like traffic safety improvements and signage is a bit more open-ended.
Another layer of the program is the locations of the cameras. Emanuel says the program is aimed to protect children and is not just a revenue generating effort. However, as the Tribune points out the ordinance limiting cameras to within one-eighth of a mile from schools or parks, yet that wording allows cameras in about half of the city.
During a pilot test of the cameras, about 10 percent of all passing cars could have been cited for speeding. It has been predicted that the potential 300 speeding cameras could bring in hundreds of millions in revenue.
If this new program reminds you of the Redflex efforts, you can read about the issues that arose around that in this Tribune investigation.
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