Red Light Cameras (Credit: CBS)
Reporting Bob Roberts
WHEATON, Ill. (WBBM) — Red light cameras won’t be coming to DuPage County-controlled intersections anytime soon. WBBM’s Bob Roberts explains.
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The DuPage County Board’s Transportation Committee rejected two proposed ordinances Tuesday, by votes of 5-0 and 4-1.
Initially, says the committee’s chair, Commissioner Don Puchalski (R-Addison), almost every community had at least one site it wanted the country to consider — 120 in all, based on a minimum of five “preventable” crashes a year at each of the intersections. But Puchalski said proponents could never present testimony showing conclusively that the cameras prevent accidents and promote safety.
He said support for red-light cameras has waned since the idea was first broached in 2007.
“Schaumburg, Bolingbrook and Geneva have all removed their red-light cameras, and I don’t know that the evidence clearly establishes a pure safety reason. We thought it was more revenue-based.”
Puchalski said cameras to generate revenue were not something most commissioners wanted; only Commissioner Jim Zay dissented.
Despite that, Puchalski said he will not rule out cameras red light in the future at one or two particularly dangerous intersections. But he said when is up to the county board.
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