Goal is not safety with red-light cameras

When it comes to ongoing issues or debates within communities around the Chicago area, one of the subjects that will come up is whether red-light photo tickets should be allowed. Some communities like Schaumburg have been proactive and have eliminated them already, while others like Elk Grove Village and Hanover Park continue to use them. Plain and simple, red light photo cameras should be banned. The city of Chicago has been the center of attention when it comes to red-light ticket violations. According to the Chicago Tribune, "The Tribune's analysis of more than 4 million tickets issued since 2007 and a deeper probe of individual cases revealed clear evidence that the deviations in Chicago's network of 380 cameras were caused by faulty equipment, human tinkering or both." People will obviously argue that the city can't do anything to stop things like human tinkering, but if they acknowledged the problem of faulty equipment, there obviously wouldn't be as many tickets given out. If the city actually cared about the safety of drivers it would fix the faulty equipment so that drivers wouldn't receive unfair and questionable tickets.

If safety is the goal, a better solution would be to make yellow lights one second longer; however, it isn't, and because revenue is the main goal, red-light photo cameras have to be stopped and replaced with a better option.

Connor Sacks

Schaumburg