Schaumburg Dumps Red Light Cameras

The Village of Schaumburg is going against the national tide and will be getting rid of its red light cameras. Last fall, Schaumburg installed red-light cameras at the intersection of Woodfield Road and Meacham Road, close to Woodfield Mall. Within a couple of months, the cameras recorded 10,000 tickets, each resulting in a $100 ticket. Roughly 98% of those tickets were for motorists who failed to stop at the red light prior to making a right turn. The Village closed down the right turn camera out of concern that the intersection was designed in such a way as to give motorists the mistaken impression that they didn't have to stop prior to making the right turn. In addition, the Village became concerned that the tickets issued to Woodfield Mall customers was bad for business. Subsequently, the Village announced that it would be installing red light cameras at four other intersections in the village. Now comes word that after a thorough examination of the effectiveness of red light cameras, the Village of Schaumburg has decided to eliminate the red light cameras altogether. The police studied the top 10 intersections with the most accidents and found that only 15 out of 800 accidents were caused by traffic light violations. The vast majority of accidents were caused by excessive speed. The Village made the decision that harassing shoppers and citizens with red light camera tickets was not justified from a public safety standpoint.

Let's hear it for Schaumburg! Let's hope this starts a trend.

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