The Policy Shop: Chicago’s $879 Million Camera Cash-In

This episode of The Policy Shop is by writer Patrick Andriesen

Two Chicago mayors have decried their city’s near-predatory use of traffic tickets. Yet those two Chicago mayors have effectively worked to increase ticket revenue.

Beware the next politician promising “relief,” because it likely means even more cash taken from drivers who can ill-afford Chicago’s high fines and higher late fees.

Chicago is notorious for its ticketing, including sending out over 475,000 erroneous parking tickets between 2012 and 2018. It uses the bulk of Illinois’ red-light cameras and it is the only Illinois city that uses speed cameras – 169 of them that sent $102 million in fines last year, including five cameras that topped $2 million each.

Since Chicago first started using speed cameras in 2013, they have generated $879 million for the city, sending out 9,132,409 tickets. That’s more than three tickets per Chicagoan or almost a ticket for three of every four Illinois residents.

But remember those mayors promising traffic ticket relief? Mayor Lori Lightfoot first promised during her campaign to help low-income residents who were especially vulnerable to the city’s fertile ticketing systems. But after becoming mayor, she lowered the speeding threshold for cameras in March 2021 to fine drivers $35 for traveling 6-10 mph over the speed limit.

The volume exploded when she did that, with 5,349,626 tickets issued during the next three years. Revenue jumped, too, especially because so many incurred late fees that took $35 tickets to $85 and $100 tickets for speeding 11 mph or more to $244.

Lightfoot created the problem but also tried to create a cure: the Clear Path Relief program to help low-income Chicagoans pay off their late traffic fines. Trouble is, no one uses it. Only 0.4% of tickets were forgiven through the program.

When City Council members tried to undo her lowered speed camera tolerance, she successfully fought the effort.

Then came mayoral campaign promise No. 2: Mayor Brandon Johnson.

He pledged to phase out speed cameras during his final televised mayoral debate. But his 2024 budget counts on residents paying $46 million more than last year in fines and fees. Giving up the $102 million speed cams brought in last year would be a heck of a chunk out of the $348 million in fines and fees he intends to collect.

Are speed cams even on Johnson’s radar for elimination anymore? His spokesman refused to comment.

But he should have some clue they still exist. He’s seen the flash of the cameras often enough as his motorcade zips through the city. He racked up $1,640 worth of traffic citations, eight of them from speed cameras

It would be one thing if speed cameras improved traffic safety, but there is little evidence that is the case. A city study showed improvement but looked at crashes at intersections – not near intersections. A study in Great Britain found the cameras increased collisions away from monitored zones as drivers abruptly slowed down to avoid fines, then quickly sped up after passing the surveilled intersections.

An Arizona study found no effect on collisions from the cameras.

And University of Illinois-Chicago research also concluded there was “little relationship between the number of tickets issued and the safety impact of cameras.”

Politicians said the cameras were placed so they would slow drivers near parks and schools. They claimed the cameras were about safety.

But without evidence that anyone is safer with them, let’s call them what they are: Chicago’s cash cams.