Schaumburg mulls adjusting red light camera policy

Even as neighboring municipalities continue preparations to add red light cameras, Schaumburg is considering backing off a bit from its current use.

A camera targeting right-turn-on-red violations at the corner of Meacham and Woodfield roads was turned off last week pending a public safety committee discussion at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday.

Village Manager Ken Fritz is recommending replacement of the camera with a right-turn arrow signal. However, cameras targeting red light violators who proceed straight through the intersection would remain.

More than 10,000 tickets have been generated by the cameras from mid-November to early February, of which about 98 percent were for not making a complete stop before turning right on red.

Tickets are $100 each, generating a potential income of $1 million from the cameras, though some may be challenged in court.

The camera vendor, RedSpeed Illinois, received a startup fee of $129,000 and takes $30 from each ticket issued, Fritz said.

There is belief that the cameras have made an impact in encouraging safer driving. Tickets have fallen by 25 percent over the enforcement period, and the number of accidents at the intersection dropped to five from nine during the same period a year before.

Only two of the five recent accidents were tied to right-turn violations, though.

Those numbers are being weighed against maintaining the consumer-friendliness of Schaumburg's commercial district, Fritz said.

For Palatine resident Richard Gylling, it's become a running joke with his wife that it's too expensive for him to take her to the movies anymore since he received the second ticket of his 43 years of driving on their way home from seeing "Marley & Me" at Streets of Woodfield Jan. 4.

Gylling believes the village is on the right track in making changes to its policy, or at least to the intersection itself. He describes the intersection's right-turn lane as an ambiguous experience for drivers where no signal or sign can be seen from the stop line itself.

"It's really very encouraging that they're even reconsidering whether it's right," Gylling said. "If people are consciously breaking the law, they ought to pay the price. But there's probably a set of circumstances there that make this an ambiguous situation."

Schaumburg Trustee Jack Sullivan, a member of the public safety committee, said options to be discussed Thursday include not only a right-turn arrow but prohibiting right turns on red altogether.

"Nobody ever intended (the camera) to be a revenue stream, and it's obviously a problem," Sullivan said. "Now it's obvious we're going to have to look for a solution at that intersection and we will."

Fritz said the change in enforcement procedure at the intersection doesn't mean the village wouldn't proceed with plans to put cameras at other intersections later.

The corner of Meacham and Woodfield was chosen as a testing ground for the cameras because it's a village-owned intersection and didn't require permission from the county or state.

"I think the technology makes sense," Fritz said of red light cameras. The issue is "that balance of how you apply it."