Red light cams divide DuPage Co. board candidates

While red light enforcement cameras pop up at various intersections throughout DuPage County, they are still noticeably absent from county-controlled roads.

The county has yet to formulate a policy on use of photo enforcement technology on its roads, much to the chagrin of many municipalities. Some county board candidates in the Nov. 4 election say a policy should be implemented immediately to help make intersections safer, while others argue against the technology all together because they fear it will become a revenue generator for municipalities.

District 4 Republican incumbent Grant Eckhoff has been a vocal supporter of photo enforcement technology. He believes the extra citations won't clog the court system.

"Statistics I've seen show that 95 percent of the people pay the tickets and don't go to court," he said. "The reason private industries use these cameras is because they work."

Republican candidates James Healy, James Zay, Yolanda Campuzano, Patrick O'Shea, Robert Larsen, Debra Olson and Gerry Cassioppi along with Democrats Richard Dunn, Tony Michelassi and Rifat Sivisoglu also said they support the use of such equipment in some instances. Most hedged their support by saying they'd limit the use to the most unsafe intersections. They also argue that the county should be partnering with the municipalities instead of hindering their efforts to make streets in those towns safer.

"If local officials want to put one in on one of our roads we have to go with their judgment," said Dunn, a District 4 challenger.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks has been determining the revenue split between municipalities and the county.

"How about we have some sort of policy where some of that revenue we get goes into a pot to fix the intersection," Healy said. "I would also place a sunset (law) on the cameras to remove them when the intersection becomes safe enough."

Opponents of red light photo enforcement say the technology smacks of Big Brother and suggest spending money to fix the intersection instead of using the funds on technology.

"It's an unnecessary expense," said District 4 Green Party challenger William Edgar. "If the intersection is determined to be too dangerous, it was poorly designed."

Democrats Dan Bailey and Dirk Enger said they generally oppose use of the technology as well as Republicans Brien Sheahan and Paul Fichtner.

District 1 incumbent Fichtner called the installation of such cameras at county intersections a "nuclear" response to a safety problem and District 6 challenger Enger said speed limits should first be reduced on roads with troublesome intersections.

"I'm just philosophically opposed to it," said Sheahan, a District 2 incumbent. "The data on their effect on safety is unpersuasive."

Stop or go

Here's how most of the DuPage County Board candidates said they stand on red light photo enforcement.

Favor

District 1: Yolanda Campuzano (R), Rifat Sivisoglu (D)

District 2: Patrick O'Shea (R)

District 4: Grant Eckhoff (R), Debra Olson (R), Richard Dunn (D)

District 5: James Healy (R), Gerry Cassioppi (R), Tony Michelassi (D)

District 6: James Zay (R), Robert Larsen (R)

Oppose

District 1: Paul Fichtner (R)

District 2: Brien Sheahan (R)

District 4: Dan Bailey (D), William Edgar (G)

District 6: Dirk Enger (D)