Schaumburg red light camera triggers surprising ticket volume

Schaumburg believed it was simply joining a growing trend when it activated its first red light camera last November at the intersection of Meacham and Woodfield roads.

But village officials have been as surprised by the number of tickets generated - just over 7,000 from mid-November to late December - as they were that about 98 percent of the tickets were for failing to stop completely before turning right on a red light. Tickets were issued after a 15-day period in which only warnings were sent.

At $100 per ticket, the village is theoretically owed close to $700,000, though some citations are likely to be dismissed. So far, only about $133,000 has actually been collected.

Village Manager Ken Fritz said other communities have said it's typical for the number of tickets generated by a new red light camera to be quite high until regular drivers in the area learn of the stepped-up enforcement.

"They do change behavior," Fritz said of the cameras. "People have grown fairly lackadaisical about the right-hand turn. People may not like it and they may have gotten used to just rolling through, but it can lead to accidents."

Though some drivers may be choosing to appeal their tickets, relatively few - less than 50 of the 7,000 cited - have complained directly to the village, Fritz said.

Village Trustee George Dunham, who chairs the public safety committee, said a year ago that he had been only reluctantly persuaded to cast his vote for the cameras.

It was accident statistics that changed his mind about the need, and the number of tickets issued so far have only cemented his opinion that it's a good idea.

"I was quite surprised that the number was as high as it was," Dunham said. "But if the law says you stop and you choose not to, you choose to break the law."

Rolling Meadows uses red light cameras at five intersections, one for a year now and two more for nearly a year.

Rolling Meadows Police Chief Steve Williams said that getting people to stop before turning right at red lights is the first step in getting them to look right before they do. Many accidents are caused by drivers hitting pedestrians crossing the street because they never looked right before turning, Williams said.

"The hope is not that people will be afraid to get a ticket," Williams said. "Our hope is that this automatic look - and it's not as automatic as it sounds - will change people's behavior."

Though none of Rolling Meadows' affected intersections are as high-volume as the one Schaumburg is testing, they have proved to be accident-prone. But only with a year of data under its belt does the city now feel prepared to assess how much drivers' behaviors have changed over time, Williams said.

Both Fritz and Dunham don't deny that the revenue generated by the tickets can be of help when so many of Schaumburg's other revenue sources are based on taxes tied to the weakening economy.

But they do deny that the pursuit of revenue played any part in their decision to install the cameras.

"The revenue was the last thing that I was thinking about when we did this, though no one is going to believe that," Dunham said. "Revenue is nice, but I'd be willing to give up all the revenue if people started driving correctly and we could take this down tomorrow."

The village paid a startup cost of $129,000 to vendor RedSpeed Illinois, which will also take about $30 per $100 ticket, Fritz said.

Officials chose this particular intersection as a testing ground for the cameras since both roads belong to the village and no permission was needed from the county or state.

But it is only one of many accident-prone intersections where the cameras may ultimately be used, officials said.