A HOMEOWNER is refusing to drive down his own street after a new road law began that could cost him $100 just for pulling out of his driveway.
This concern stems from the ever-increasing number of speed cameras lining his city’s streets.
A homeowner is refusing to drive down his own street or face massive driving fines[/caption]
Chicago has added 22 new speed cameras since June to crack down on drivers[/caption]
Chicago resident Eddie Johnson recently moved to the neighborhood where the city’s highest-ticketing camera is located.
He said the camera “goes off all night” and that he “won’t drive down the street” it monitors, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The camera plaguing Johnson is one of 22 new cameras to go online in Chicago, helping issue hundreds of thousands of speeding tickets to motorists.
These 22 new cameras alone issued over 91,000 tickets in their first month of operation. Five of the city’s six highest-ticketing cameras are part of these 22 new cameras, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Drivers exceeding Chicago’s citywide speed limit of 30 mph by 6 to 10 mph will be slapped with a $35 fine, while those driving 11 mph or more over will be fined $100.
Locals are now nervous to drive down their own street, suspicious of the camera’s intent to only ticket speeders due to inconsistencies in their measurement, as highlighted in a report by Chicago ABC affiliate WLS.
Resident Tim Garrity said he found the speed limit signage in the monitored area to be “very confusing,” adding that he does “20 [mph] all the time” so he knows he “can’t go wrong” with respect to the new laws, per local CW outlet WGN-TV.
The city’s own reports have shown inconsistencies in the cameras used, with this information showing a variance of 0.62 mph.
It’s also being argued that residents ticketed for going 1 mph over the speed limit shouldn’t be responsible, given this measurement discrepancy.
March saw Mayor Brandon Johnson approve the implementation of 50 total new cameras citywide in order to account for an $11.4 million hole in the city’s 2025 budget.
The revenue generated by these cameras will then go back into the city of Chicago’s general corporate fund.
ROAD SAFETY STUDY DISPUTES EFFECTIVENESS
University of Illinois Chicago professor Stacey Sutton published a study on the city’s speed cameras in 2022, nearly a decade after the tech was first introduced in 2013.
The study’s most troubling discoveries include a repeat offender population that seemingly isn’t discouraged by the financial risk now associated with speeding in the city.
Sutton also found that while some cameras improved safety, others did not, and urged the city to use the cameras primarily as a tool for improving road safety instead of generating revenue.
How to fight a speeding ticket
According to a legally reviewed post, there are five effective strategies to fighting a speeding ticket if it was wrongfully issued.
- If pulled over and issued a ticket, drivers can argue or dispute a driver’s personal opinion. When issuing a speeding ticket, an officer is required to write their opinion and come to an “objective” conclusion. If the ticket was written based on that judgment, it can be contested. An example would be if you were going 75 mph in a 65 mph zone because others were traveling at the same speed, you could argue that it would be more dangerous to travel at 65 mph.
- You can dispute the officer’s presentation of evidence. If you were ticketed for something like running a stop sign or making an illegal u-turn, you can’t contest that if an officer saw you, but you can call things into court like eyewitnesses, diagrams, or photos.
- Argue that the ticket was issued by a “mistake of fact.” This is tricky, but a “mistake of fact” is a mistake made by a driver about a situation that was beyond their control, or if a driver legitimately did not know they were violating the law. For example, you were driving in two lanes because the lane markers were so worn down that you could not see them.
- You could say circumstances justified your driving. You could say you were speeding to pass a possibly drunk driver, or avoiding an accident by rapidly changing lanes. However, the argument won’t work if there’s proof you continued to speed after passing.
- Similar to the above, it could be argued that speeding was necessary to avoid harm. The key is to argue that if you weren’t speeding, you or someone else could have been harmed.
- Consult a traffic attorney, if all else fails. Many have free consultations to decide whether or not there’s a case.
Source: FindLaw
The Equity in Enforcement group is set to share reform recommendations at the September meeting of the city’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, with locals contributing to the discussion via a survey conducted by the group.
OTHER CITIES FOLLOW SUIT
Illinois’ Windy City isn’t the only metropolitan area to implement the speed camera technology, with San Francisco first doing so in August.
With 33 automated cameras now active in the city, drivers could face fines ranging from $50 to $500 depending on their exact speed.
However, drivers who meet specific criteria can see these fines reduced or eliminated altogether.
City transportation officials said these cameras have already contributed to reducing speeding and fatal accidents in high-risk intersections, both before and after their activation, thanks to drivers voluntarily adjusting their habits.
Over a dozen schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida, have also installed speeding cameras on their roads, but these specific devices will only be active at certain times of the day.
The new cameras begin monitoring roads 30 minutes before school starts on each school day, staying active throughout the day and until 30 minutes after school ends, then deactivating overnight and during weekends and holidays.
Drivers going 10 mph or higher over the speed limit will receive a $100 fine, but fines won’t start being issued until after the 30-day adjustment grace period ending on September 14.
MORE NEW SAFETY LAWS
On Monday, South Carolina passed a new hands-free law that bans motorists from handling their phones in any way while behind the wheel.
Instead, drivers will need to rely on hands-free methods in order to avoid an initial $100 fine that can become $200 with subsequent repeat offenses.
Other states are tackling speeding problems at the root, such as Ohio’s decision to mandate 40 hours of adult-supervised driving for motorists aged 18 to 20, with 10 of those hours needing to be at nighttime.
While the methods may differ, all of these laws share the same goal of making roadways safer for drivers and pedestrians alike.
