Red light camera firm paid for Chicago official’s car, condo

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/feds-red-light-camera-firm-paid-for-chicago-officials-car-condo-and-more/

by suprgeek • 12 years ago

72 22 12 years ago

ams6110• 12 years ago

Chicago. Enough said.

I don't know Chicago that well. Flew through it once. Would - "America. Enough said." - be a reasonable way to look at this for those of us standing further away, or does it not work quite like that? Please advise.

sk5t2• 12 years ago

Chicago has a storied history and marked reputation among American cities for its political corruption.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_history_of_Chicago

csixty4• 12 years ago

Four of the last seven Illinois governors served time in prison for corruption. For decades, Chicago was run by the "Daley Machine", first under mayor Richard J Daley and later by his son, Richard M Daley. It was common knowledge that Chicago politics were corrupt from the mayor on down, but nobody was ever able to make any charges stick.

bluthru2• 12 years ago

Privatization. Enough said.

baddox3• 12 years ago

But the problem is still the "public" part of it. A private company can generally not put up red lights cameras and start forcing people to pay fines without direct cooperation with the government.

pmorici• 12 years ago

Traffic ticket cameras in general whether they be read light or speed cameras are a complete racket. In many if not most jurisdictions the government doesn't actually own the traffic cameras they just license the privilege of deploying them to a private company who gives the government a cut.

The problem is that they just mail out as many tickets as possible without regard for whether or not they are even correct and hope people don't dispute them. It also makes for great incentives for corruption as this story illustrates.

Here are just a few examples from Maryland I'm familiar with...

http://www.wtop.com/41/2802160/Md-court-of-appeals-to-hear-s...

http://www.mddriversalliance.org/2009/03/maryland-red-light-...

http://www.byrdandbyrd.com/speedcamera.php

tmuir• 12 years ago

The part that really irks me is the optimization for revenue that seems to occur with red light camera intersections. They are hoping that you will run the light.

For instance, a north-south road has the red. The intersecting east-west road has a left turn arrow. The north-south's right turn lanes should be able to turn, and before the cameras were installed, they simply had yield signs. But now that there's money to be made, there is no turn on red.

Another variation on the same idea: The north-south road's light is turning red. The east-west road will get a left turn arrow, and the north-south road will get a right turn arrow. Before the cameras were installed, the right turn arrows started at the same time as the yellow in the same direction, so right turners didn't have to stop. Now that there's $100 per violation to be made, there is a 3 second delay between red light and right turn arrow.

dabit3• 12 years ago

Business as usual.

Red light camera firm paid for Chicago official’s car, condo

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