Is safety at heart in red-light cameras?

With the recent surge of red light enforcement cameras, I must question the intention of safety versus revenue building. Each time a municpality considers red light enforcement cameras, the cost and expected revenue is calculated prior to the village board making a decision. Clearly, there must be a conflict in the decision-making process of traffic photo enforcement.

In my opinion, the state of Illinois and local municipal governments have gotten their priorities out of order. I have a hard time accepting that some intersections need to be photo enforced when other more dangerous intersections go untouched. Each day, the interchange at southbound I-355 and Butterfield Road backs up. The exit ramp only has one lane until the near top, then it expands into 3 lanes. The right lane is constantly being blocked because of the traffic signal at the Home Depot to the west. In addition, cars that are heading westbound on Butterfield are constantly blocking the southbound I-355 ramp from exiting, which leads to backups on the actual tollway itself. This problem needs to be addressed by Downers Grove, DuPage County, and the state, as cars are constantly maneuvering through a blocked intersection to exit onto Butterfield Road - causing dangerous situations for vehicles.

In Lisle, where I live, the village has two intersections I pass regularly that are photo enforced: Yackley and Ogden Ave and Maple and Route 53. While both of these seem to have a high volume of traffic at peak periods, neither seems to pose a safety or traffic issue nearly as dangerous as what I experience at I-355 and Butterfield Road.

If safety is truly at the heart of these red light enforcement areas, one must question why some intersections have received attention while others have been completely ignored.

Thank you for your time and assistance in any answers that could be provided by the state to address this growing concern.

David Sarama

Lisle