Caveats on use of traffic cameras

If you break a traffic law in Carol Stream, chances are pretty good that you're going to get a ticket. The village police aggressively patrol the roads.

There is a reason for this. Busy and dangerous North Avenue crosses through Carol Stream.

North Avenue used to have a reputation as one of the bloodiest byways in the state. From 1990 to 1992, 16 people lost their lives in accidents on the stretch of North Avenue through DuPage County and eastern Kane County. Another 1,215 were injured.

Improvements to North Avenue, and a crackdown on speeding, have made the road safer. Still, the juncture of North Avenue and Gary Avenue remains on the list of the most accident-prone points in the county. Last year, there were 44 crashes at this intersection.

"Our cops could be out there (North Avenue) writing tickets for several days in a row and it doesn't seem to help," said Carol Stream Village President Frank Saverino.

What Carol Stream thinks might be helpful is to install cameras, possibly at the Gary/North avenues intersection, and also at Kuhn Road and North Avenue. Photos would be taken of cars that run red lights, a key cause of accidents. Sometime this month, the village board is expected to consider installing the intersection cameras.

Given the danger at North Avenue intersections, and the fact that many motorists thumb their nose at traffic laws in driving through Carol Stream, red light cameras might be a good way to make travel safer on North Avenue. Other communities that have used them have seen a reduction in crashes at intersections, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. New York City, for example, has seen a 34 percent reduction in red light violations since cameras were put in place in 1994.

Still, a photo enforcement system has an Orwellian feel to it, and there's always the suspicion that the village would use cameras more as a revenue generator than as a safety measure.

These are legitimate concerns. Chicago, for example, netted $20 million last year for red light violations caught by cameras.

Certainly visual enforcement of traffic laws through a cop's eyes rather than a photo lens is the ideal. Still, drivers have no reasonable expectation that they won't be stopped by police for blowing red lights; cameras are an extension of enforcement efforts.

And with selective use of cameras at dangerous intersections along North Avenue, Carol Stream police can spend more time patrolling streets in the interior of the village.

But if Carol Stream does adopt the camera enforcement system, it should make periodic public reports noting to what degree it has improved safety on the roads by reducing collisions, and how much money it has generated from photo-based ticketing.

Traffic cameras should serve as a big help in improving safety roads, not as Big Brother or a big revenue raiser.