City May Raise Red Light Camera Fine, Mandate Traffic School

By Prescott Carlson in News on Mar 3, 2010 10:00PM

The Chicago City Council debated about the city's red light cameras today, but the end result looks to not be pointing to relief for city drivers -- or more accurately, car owners. Instead, that dreaded violation that magically appears in your mailbox could cost $25 - $75 more.

The extra cost could be incurred if the city moves forward with the idea of requiring a traffic course for those who receive the violation. If the class is not taken, that ticket may cost you $175 instead of $125. Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) said that he believes the city may even be violating Illinois law because it may require that traffic school be offered as a possible sentence (it doesn't). Ald. Ed Burke (14th) instead argued that the class should be mandated to increase safety, lest anybody think red light cameras are just a revenue generator:

"So I guess the myth that we apparently have held out that this is some kind of a great plan to create education and a plan to dissuade people from violating the law is more a myth than anything else," Burke said.

"It's a money machine, that's all. Period," he added.

We're having trouble telling if Burke was using "money machine" as a pejorative or not. And the problem with education, however, is that the wrong person may wind up being educated. As The Expired Meter points out, red light violation notices are sent to the registered owner of the vehicle, who may not necessarily have been the person driving when the infraction occurred. That sticking point is just one of several that protesters have been making in their efforts to have red light cameras banned nationwide.