RED LIGHT CAMERAS COMING DOWN - Those Around Woodfield Shopping Mall, Schaumburg IL, Giving the Area a "Ticket Destination" Rep!
SCHAUMBURG IL VILLAGE MANAGER FEARS BUSINESS COULD GO DOWN IF RED LIGHT CAMERAS STAY UP!
You a Boomer? You know, one of those rapidly aging folks who came of age in the 1960's and early 1970's?
If so, you might remember the famed series of recorded radio skits on WCFL Radio here in Chicago - "Chickenman." He was "The Most Famous Crime Fighter The World Has Ever Known," you know.
Yeah . . . it's all coming back to you now, you Chicago folks. Admit it! Remember the famous Chickenman Call -
"He's Everywhere, He's Everywhere!"
Well, "Everywhere," is where those blasted Red Light Enforcement Cameras seem to be these days. Don't make a visible stop at a red light, and, FLASH - you get an annoying, virtually-irrefutable $100 ticket.
In the City of Chicago, Red Light Enforcement Cameras aren't going anywhere, unfortunately. But at one intersection in the Northwest Chicago Suburb of Schaumburg IL, one set of cameras is being de-activated. Apparently, the camera, at the corner of Meacham and Woodfield Roads, near the large, regional Woodfield Shopping Center, is bad for business!
As summarized in a story by Carolyn Starks, in last Monday's edition of The Chicago Tribune, Schaumburg Village President Ken Fritz didn't see any public safety benefit to the camera at that intersection. Collisions at that corner fell only slightly since the cameras were installed.
But many shoppers were irate after being ticketed, however. Some threatened to never shop in the Village of Schaumburg again! And, in tough economic times, this is an important consideration!
The Village brought in nearly $1 Million in traffic fines, mainly from those not fully stopping before turning right on a red light in the three months between their installation last November, and January of this year. Roughly 10,000 tickets were issued - at $100 a piece! The town's till is full - but a possible exodus of shoppers to other locations might not compensate for the fines money collected.
The Suburb of Bollingbrook IL - southwest of Chicago - similarly deactivated a Red Light Camera at a busy intersection near a shopping area a couple of years ago. Again, shoppers' complained at a high level, and threatened to stay away in droves! The Village de-activated the Red Light Cam, even though it recorded roughly 13,000 finable offenses, and generated $639,000 in revenue, last May.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
