Gurnee About to Debut Red Light Cameras:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=286263&src=3

Gurnee About to Debut Red Light Cameras:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=286263&src=3

Thanks for the heads up on something that should be, and sometimes is, illegal. Though I'm not in the habit of running red lights.

I live in the Chicago suburbs, and I can tell you that the red-light cameras are EVERYWHERE up there. Virtually every major intersection has them. It's getting pretty bad.

By my workplace they just turned off one red light camera for public outrage. It collected over $1 million from November to January. Over 95% were for not coming to a complete stop on a right turn on red.

What bothers me about these things is most are owned by private companies (as is the one in Gurnee) and the company gets a commission on each collected ticket in return for providing the equipment. In many jurisdictions, such tickets often do not hold up if challenged in court, which most drivers/owners do not do. It's perilously close to a racket, if it isn't. And many places greatly cut the time the caution light is on when these are installed. Some statistics indicate accidents increase as drivers abruptly brake to avoid a ticket.

They're outrageous. I avoid areas that have them-and one person Iknow that challenged it, won the case. So why bother with it?

All they do is increase rear ending accidents

They make tons of money as most will not challenge them, but meekly pay up. And not all challenges are successful.