Over the first 40 days they've been in operation, Chicago's nine new speed enforcement cameras have issued warnings to 200,000 drivers. Politicians and reporters are skeptical about the city's motivation for installing the cameras.
For John Greenfield, by speculating on the financial motivation for installing the cameras, reporters and elected leaders are ignoring the severity of the safety problem the speeding data reveals.
"You would think that the [Chicago] Tribune would respond to the [data on the volume of warnings] with a story about how these numbers indicate that Chicago has a reckless driving epidemic," observes Greenfield. "Perhaps the paper would acknowledge that the cameras represent an appropriate enforcement measure. Instead, the Trib clung to its hypothesis that this safety initiative is merely a money grab by the mayor, with the headline 'Emanuel speed cameras may bring in more revenue than expected.'”
"The Trib piece fails to mention that any revenue generated by the speed cameras would be earmarked for traffic safety and violence prevention efforts such as crossing guards and police officers around schools, infrastructure like crosswalks and warning signs, plus after-school, anti-violence and job-training programs," he adds.
FULL STORY: 200,000-Plus Warnings in 40 Days Proves We Have a Speeding Epidemic
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Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research