Des Plaines considering red-light cameras
It's not about the green, Des Plaines officials say.
Yet motorists may have to fork out a lot of it if the Des Plaines city council approves red light cameras for accident-prone intersections.
Mounted cameras have been proliferating throughout the suburbs, though right now there are none in Des Plaines.
The city council's public safety committee will discuss the red light camera enforcement program and prospective vendors at its Feb. 2 meeting.
There's no shortage of critics or supporters of red light cameras.
The con argument often is that municipalities milk traffic cameras like a cash cow to plug holes in their budgets, and the increased danger of rear-end accidents as people try harder to stop for changing lights. Also, license plate holders pay the price of red light camera violations regardless of whether they are the drivers caught on camera running a red light.
City officials could not provide an estimate for how much revenue they expect such cameras to generate. Tickets would be $100.
Mayor Tony Arredia said red light cameras are not meant to be "a revenue producing project," but rather are aimed at improving safety on city roads.
That's the goal of Chicago's 248 mounted cameras placed at 123 accident-prone intersections since 2003. The city plans to install cameras at 50 more intersections this year.
Naperville, too, hopes cameras at Route 59 and North Aurora Road will reduce the number of crashes at that intersection.
Des Plaines officials have prepared a list of the top 16 accident-heavy intersections for 2008, which includes the Cumberland Circle roundabout.
"We can't put cameras up there because there's no traffic signals, but that's our No. 1 location every year for accidents," Des Plaines Police Chief Jim Prandini said.
Second on the list of dangerous intersections is the Touhy Avenue and Mount Prospect Road junction.
Prandini could not say what percentage of crashes were caused by red light violations. That's something the chosen vendor would study at the targeted intersections.
"We're going to look at all of them and see where we can improve traffic safety the most," Prandini said.
Arredia admits driver nervousness around intersections with cameras may cause more accidents than the cameras are supposed to prevent.
"I know the ones that I drive through in Chicago, there's always that anxiety when you find the signal turning yellow," Arredia said.
Drivers stopping short could be just as much a traffic hazard as motorists running the light, he said.
Arredia said should the city council approve cameras at intersections, the city would monitor the number of accidents before and after, and how many tickets are being written.
"I want to make sure that we are doing this to improve safety and not it becoming a revenue source because that's not the intent of the project," he said.