Red-light cameras coming to Warrenville intersections

Warrenville is joining an expanding list of suburban communities planning to put cameras up at intersections to catch motorists who run red lights.

The city council was briefed Monday on a plan to contract with Lombard-based RedSpeed Illinois to install cameras at intersections with heavy traffic.

The city is waiting on traffic studies to help determine which intersections would get the red-light cameras and how many to put up. Among the roads likely to be targeted for the camera systems are sections of Route 59 and Butterfield Road.

Police Chief Raymond Turano said he hopes to have the red-light camera system up and running by Sept. 1.

Turano and several Warrenville officials echoed the arguments of several neighboring communities that the camera systems aren't being considered as a money-making venture.

"The purpose of this is to limit the amount of crashes at 90-degree angles," Turano said. "This has nothing to do with generating vast streams of revenue."

Catching motorists using the cameras, though, can be profitable for towns considering red light cameras.

Naperville officials estimated that cameras activated at two intersections last month could add about $2.4 million to the city's coffers. That's based on predictions of issuing 1,000 tickets a month at each intersection. The city will pay a flat fee of $180,000 this year for maintenance of the cameras.

Roughly 30 cameras in Chicago netted $20 million for the city in 2006.

And a single camera in Bellwood resulted in 500 tickets in one month, which resulted in $50,000 worth of ticket fines.

Aurora, Carol Stream, Lisle, Roselle and Wood Dale are among the other DuPage County communities with similar plans for red-light enforcement camera systems in the works.