DuPage County mulling end to right-on-red tickets

Municipal officials in DuPage have been pleading for the county's transportation department to adopt a red-light camera policy for county-controlled intersections.

They may not like what they get.

Many county board members favor a policy that would forbid municipalities from the lucrative practice of ticketing drivers for illegal right turns at red lights at county-controlled intersections.

"Absent that provision, I'm completely opposed to red-light cameras," board member Paul Fichtner said.

County board members complain many municipalities have turned to red-light cameras as revenue generators rather than their intended purpose to increase safety.

"I'm for making sure it's a police tool and making sure they're not using it just for the money they make from it," board member John Curran said.

A Daily Herald investigation into the rapid spread of the cameras throughout the suburbs found most $100 tickets were issued for right-turn violations and many communities installed cameras at intersections where there were few crashes related to motorists running red lights.

The county board's transportation committee on Tuesday will debate a proposed policy for allowing the cameras at county-controlled intersections. The proposal apparently mirrors the state's policy, but several board members said it won't make it out of committee without major revisions. Board members also need to decide how to handle financial and jurisdictional issues with municipalities.

More than a dozen DuPage communities already have the cameras in operation. Many municipal officials have complained that without a county policy they aren't able to outfit the more dangerous intersections.

"I believe the county's portion from any revenue split would go into a special fund that can only be used for safety improvements at intersections that have red-light cameras," said board member Jim Healy, who is also the transportation committee's vice chairman.

Few board members have championed a red-light camera policy for the county. Most have remained indifferent or opposed to the devices.

Board member Grant Eckhoff has been one of the few who has supported adopting a policy to give municipalities control.

"We've been talking it to death for two years and we promised the municipalities something in 2008," Eckhoff said. "My position has always been that these are a matter of public safety."

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Fichtner, who calls red-light cameras a "nuclear option" to other safety measures, and board member Brien Sheahan who believes the cameras "contribute to accidents more than they prevent them."

"Playing gotcha with motorists doesn't strike me as real fair," Sheahan said.