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* WBEZ checked public records to see if any Chicago aldermen had been popped by a red light camera. They found some…

“I ran a red light at Diversey and California. I have never ran it again since I got the ticket,” Ald. Dick Mell of the 33rd Ward announced at City Hall.

Mell wasn’t shy about his “criminal” history. In general, though, there wasn’t an outpouring of confessions at City Hall when a committee debated speed cameras last week.

But thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, we got a list of red light camera tickets sent to people whose names match those of Chicago aldermen. The city refused to provide identifying information like home address of license plate number, so we can’t be sure which of the tickets belong to aldermen, or to someone with the same name.

Still, that list helped spur some admissions.

* The Question: Have you ever been ticketed as a result of a red light camera? Tell us your story.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:01 pm

Comments

Our family refuses to turn right on red at these intersections. These cameras are placed at intersections which generate a lot of rolling right on reds for revenue, not safety…

Comment by Allen Skillicorn Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:22 pm
Yes, got nailed by a “no right on red” camera monitored intersection in Chicago.

When I got the ticket I was angry because I was sure that I had stopped and waited. I went online and watched the video of myself turning right on red (a strange experience). Then I stopped being angry at Chicago, paid my ticket and have gotten much better about observing no right on red signs ever since.

It’s infuriating to get a ticket that way, but overall as a way to change a behavior I think it is an effective enforcement mechanism.

Comment by siriusly Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:24 pm
Red light camera in Chicago, no.

Speeding ticket camera in Montgomery County, Maryland, yes. $75 for going 40 in a 30, IIRC.

I expect Chicago will soon have the latter cameras.

Comment by aaron singer Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:30 pm
Yep, New York and Eola in Aurora, making the left turn when the arrow was yellow when I went over the white line, suffice to say I wasn’t in the intersection enough when it went red…

$100+ lesson.

When they go off at night, it is like you are in a bad dance club.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:33 pm
I got my first and only last year. I went out to Wheaton to visit my parents and get some shots for the dog. On the drive back home to Chicago, I hit some traffic on the Ike. I got off on Cicero to avoid and take some side roads home. I had never been on this part of Cicero before. It was a wet and gray early afternoon. I saw the traffice light turn yellow and I didn’t really make up my mind if I would stop or try to go thru it. Before I really knew it, the light turned red and I went thru the light a second or two later. I saw the flash go off. I didn’t know the light had a camera. I knew I’d be getting some mail from the city. I blew the light so I knew it was all on me. I just couldn’t figure out why I was brain dead at that particular moment.

Comment by Davey Boy Smithe Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:35 pm
I haven’t gotten a ticket (yet), but I think I came close a couple of times. It’s very disconcerting to see the strobe lights flash as you speed through the orange light. So far, no notices have been sent.

That leads me to believe they review these and only ticket the indisputable violations that they catch on camera.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:37 pm
Yes at the corner of Mannheim and Roosevelt. I turned right on red and must not have come to a complete stop. I’ve been careful to do so ever since.

Westchester is full of these cameras. My only complaint is that when power glitches hit, the stop lights with the red light cameras seem to take a longer time to recover. And Westchester, even though they must be pretty flush with all that red light camera money, refuses to dispatch officers to direct traffic when the lights are out.

Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:39 pm
Me and my wife also got a turning on red at Diversey and California ticket on the same day. Guess we have more in common with our alderman than I thought.

Comment by Nathan Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:41 pm
I think I came close a couple of times. It’s very disconcerting to see the strobe lights flash as you speed through the orange light. So far, no notices have been sent.

Same experience. No tickets.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 12:44 pm
Right-on-red at Diversey and California. Based on this unscientific polling that one must be quite a money-maker for the city.

If memory serves that intersection at one time had a sign informing no right-on-red before 7 pm, whereas it changed at some point to no-right-on-red period.

Comment by Peter Snarker Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:17 pm
I received two tickets for different infractions on the same day from the city! I didn’t run the lights but as the car owner I was responsible for the tickets. The kids have become better drivers after having to pay me back for the cost of the tickets!

Comment by kerfuffle Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:18 pm
Not yet

Comment by Plutocrat03 Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:22 pm
My husband did while helping Jerry101 move a few years back. He was in traffic, hot, tired and behind a big truck so he didn’t even see the red light before the underpass while planning to stop at the one he could see on the other side.

Or, that was his story. Yes, we sent the check off to the city. We avoid driving in Chicago as much as possible but we are much more careful which irritates the drivers behind us. Oh well.

Comment by ilvalleygal Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:34 pm
Got a notice of violation in the western suburbs. I fought the ticket and I won once they showed the video clip at the hearing.
Now I habitually stop behind the white line at whenever I see yellow.

Comment by Jake From Elwood Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:36 pm
red light right turn/eastbound off I-294 at Buckley Road/137 en route to Lovell Federal Health Care Center to run a veterans program

YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

Comment by 21st State Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:42 pm
Never, but I don’t own a car. I have heard complaints from other I-Go users though. By the time I-Go gets the ticket, figures out who was using the car that got it, sends the ticket on to the driver, it’s too late to fight it.

Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:47 pm
Got popped for a rolling right turn on red in Wheeling about two years ago.

…Still haven’t paid it

Comment by so.... Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:49 pm
A few years ago at Hollywood and Devon in Chicago. My daughter claimed I ran a light turning left onto Hollywood going southbound; I told her I went through on yellow.

A while later, I received a notice in the mail. The notice contained a link to a web video. Somehow, they had a picture of a car just like mine turning onto Hollywood after the light changed. Somehow, they had used some kind of software to paint my license plate onto the car’s image. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

I paid the fine by mail.

Comment by Anonymour Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:49 pm
Yup, twice in one week, 7:00AM-ish during the heat of the Primary. $200 I’ll never see again. I stopped turning at this corner…

Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 1:52 pm
My daughter went through a late yellow turning left and their photo clearly showed her car “in” the intersection when the light was clearly red.
No argument on that one.

Comment by Anon Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 2:01 pm
I got one at Grand and Green Bay Roads. Took the notice to the Waukegan police department and they cleared the violation because the intersection is at a funny angle. They can actually adjust camera and the sensors a little, so that if you stop just beyond the line, no violation occurs. They did that at this intersection.

And not turning on red at these intersections is ridiculous. Just follow the law that pre-dated the camera’s. Is it really that hard to stop, for cryin out loud?

The intersection at Grand and Hunt Club Roads in Gurnee has shown a marked decrease in accidents since installation of these camera’s. If improved safety is a by-product of the perceived “income” motivation, is that a bad thing?

Comment by Springfieldish Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 2:07 pm
Yep. I was in a “left turn on green arrow only lane” in Willowbrook when I realized I was at the wrong intersection. I moved right out of the turn lane into the regular traffic lane where the light was green and proceeded forward. The movement caught the camera’s eye. Lo and behold, a nice little letter in the mail a few weeks later. I paid it.

Comment by don't turn on red Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 2:36 pm
I wonder what would happen if, in an attempt to avoid a ticket, you slammed your brakes on and the car behind you rear-ended you, pushing you through the intersection and causing the red light camera to snap your picture? Do you have to pay the fine?

Comment by TwoFeetThick Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 2:37 pm
entered the intersection on a yellow, car ahead of me slowed down, finished the intersection as it went red. Madison and Western.

Comment by amalia Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 3:03 pm
Yes, on Western driving south back from Evanston. It got me, fair and square, but I like to think it was -just- at the tipping point, where for me to decelerate in time to not go through the intersection was doable, but right on the margin. Blah, blah. I went to a waste of a traffic education system and that was that.

Comment by ZC Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 3:12 pm
ZC, Was it Western and Pratt? That is the only one that has ever gotten me as well. Same as you I definitely ran it. The thing that made me mad was how long it took to get the ticket. After a couple of weeks I thought I was in the clear, even mentioned it to my fiance. The day after I said something the ticket came in the mail…DAMN!

Comment by Skippy Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 3:20 pm
I have neved received a ticket but in full disclosure WBEZ should let us know if they have ever received a ticket.

Comment by InTheMiddle Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 3:26 pm
I got one once for rolling a right on red at First Avenue and North Avenue in Melrose Park. The video was clear, and I paid. And I’ve been way more careful since then.

What’s actually more disconcerting was that in a southern state, I got a speeding ticket based on a video. Not treated as a moving violation, apparently, but on a lonely road I was going a little fast in the rental car, and got busted. Somehow that seems worse than the red light cameras.

Comment by Tom Brandstater's Clipboard Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 4:02 pm
Villa Park, Southbound Rt 83 at Walmart. Because I didn’t stop and hold for a full second on a right turn on red, they nailed me. “Digital replay numbers don’t lie” I was told. Arrrgh!

After kissing that cash goodbye, I learned to spot stoplight cameras in my sleep.

Comment by anon sequitor Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 4:02 pm
Route 83 in Willowbrook, actually most of Route 83 (Kingery Highway) has red light camera’s at their intersections. I guess it’s because Route 83 always has 3 or more of the top ten intersections for accidents each year.
I did not bother fighting it, it’s not a moving violation, but it cost enough for me to not hesitate to stop on a yellow.

Comment by 3rd Generation Chicago Native Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 4:08 pm
My daughter got caught twice on Western Ave. around Garfield. You would have thought she’d learn the first time!!

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 4:20 pm
Got caught at Rohlwing and Kirchoff in Rolling Meadows six months ago. The video showed me clearly rolling through the right on red, so I paid the fine. I’ve been careful ever since then when making right turns on red.

Comment by Ben Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 4:38 pm
One time. Apparently, I did not stop long enough to make the camera happy on a permitted right turn on red. Paid my $100 and went along. Now, I sit at the red light never turning even if someone honks at me. I’ve become that annoyign guy thanks to the money grab. There is a difference between running a red light and not stopping for three seconds, and then taking a permitted right turn.

Comment by Niles Township Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 4:52 pm
Western & Irving Park. Right Turn on Red.

Technically, I was “guilty”.

But, as I’ve often reminded others, if everyone in Chicago actually obeyed all of the traffic laws, the city would come to a grinding halt.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 5:02 pm
Does Dick Mell actually pay tickets? My heart is aflutter!

Comment by Boone Logan Square Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 5:13 pm
received dun calls from a collection firm, three different times for red light violations. did not and do not drive anywhere near where they claimed. told them to come out here and collect.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 8:11 pm
Skippy, yes I think was exactly it, Western and Pratt. And yes it took forever to arrive …

Comment by ZC Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 9:53 pm
Never. I obey all traffic laws, except when I’m on a bicycle.

Comment by lincoln's beard Tuesday, Apr 17, 12 @ 11:27 pm
No. But the Tollway cameras claim I’ve been running booths out near Aurora and want to take my license.

I haven’t been out near Aurora in years. The Tollway sends me pictures of plates that I can’t make out. It’s not me. I have to fight it and it’s very annoying.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 18, 12 @ 8:13 am
Don’t ask me about this!

Comment by Dan Duffy's Right Foot Wednesday, Apr 18, 12 @ 8:38 am
“When I got the ticket I was angry because I was sure that I had stopped and waited. I went online and watched the video of myself turning right on red (a strange experience). Then I stopped being angry at Chicago, paid my ticket and have gotten much better about observing no right on red signs ever since.

It’s infuriating to get a ticket that way, but overall as a way to change a behavior I think it is an effective enforcement mechanism. ”

Exactly the same, but it was a day that I’m not sure if it was my wife or me driving; I blame her, she blames me, we both are more careful about full stops at red lights before a right turn. Addison and Western.

Comment by Chris Wednesday, Apr 18, 12 @ 5:38 pm