Lincolnshire officials considering traffic cameras
Stevenson High School students may soon want to think twice about breezing through red lights on their way to campus in the morning.
The same goes for workers at Hewitt Associates, guests at Marriott's Lincolnshire Resort or the thousands of other motorists who drive through Lincolnshire every day.
Police are recommending the village be the latest suburb to add red-light cameras to busy intersections. The move, they say, would increase safety and generate extra revenue for the town.
Intersections being eyed for the cameras, which snap pictures of cars running through red lights but also can provide photographic evidence of accidents and crimes, include: Milwaukee Avenue and Route 22; Milwaukee Avenue and Route 45; Milwaukee Avenue and Aptakisic Road; and the entrance to Stevenson High on Route 22.
The village board discussed the concept Monday night and could do so again in November. Trustees support the concept.
"I think it would really help with the Milwaukee Avenue and Route 22 intersection, which does have a lot of accidents," Trustee Tom McDonough said.
People making late left turns - an illegal action the cameras would catch - also is problematic there, McDonough said.
Round Lake, Gurnee, Lake Zurich, Buffalo Grove and Kildeer are among the Lake County communities studying the viability of traffic cameras. They're already in place in Chicago and elsewhere in the area, including Waukegan, St. Charles, Rolling Meadows, Elgin and Lake in the Hills.
Tickets from red-light cameras generally come with $100 fines. If implemented in Lincolnshire, the cameras could generate more than $300,000 a year in additional revenue for the village, according to a police department memo.
Police have reviewed offers from several camera companies. Under the preferred plan, the village wouldn't have to pay for the cameras and would only pay a monthly service fee of $4,500 per device.
Two or four cameras likely would be placed at the selected intersections, Police Chief Randy Melvin said.
The company would not receive a cut of the ticket revenue or a fee for each ticket issued, Melvin said.
The cash from the red-light tickets could pay for bike paths, road salt, traffic programs and other transportation- or safety-related purchases, Melvin said.
Unlike traffic camera systems in London or the system used to nab I-PASS scofflaws on the Illinois Tollway, tickets would not be issued automatically, McDonough said. Rather, film of people driving through red lights would be given to police to judge whether they were ignoring traffic laws for legitimate reasons, such as getting out of the way of an ambulance or a fire truck.
"There's an element of fairness there," McDonough said.
Trustee David Saltiel feels red-light cameras are appropriate to increase safety but wants to learn more about the potential cost and revenue.
"I'm cautiously in favor of the proposal," he said.
If the proposal progresses, the village would need permission from the Illinois Department of Transportation to put cameras on state-maintained roads such as Milwaukee Avenue or Route 22. That process can take four to six months, Melvin said.
Lake County officials would have to grant permission to put the cameras on their roads, but that process typically doesn't take as long, Melvin said.