[Infowarrior] - Chicago Official: Run red lights, please - we need the $$

[Richard Forno]

A Chicago pol wants you to run more red lights

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/06/22/red_light_alderman/index.html

A Chicago alderman is looking to ban a new device that alerts drivers when
they're approaching red-light cameras. His argument: The city needs money
from people who speed through red lights. That's right -- in order to keep
Chicago rolling in cash, greedy alderman Edward Burke would prefer that
drivers run red lights, possibly injuring themselves or others. As he sees
it, any device that "subverts" that pleasant, cash-generating scenario ought
to be outlawed.

The device in question is the Cobra XRS R9G, a traditional radar detector
that also tracks the location of red-light cameras through GPS. The unit
sells for $439, and Cobra will also offer it to manufacturers for
preinstallation in new cars.

Burke, though, thinks that anyone who uses such a system is undermining
Chicago's fiscal future. The city has installed red-light cameras at 39
dangerous intersections, and plans to have 70 working by the end of the
year. As drivers approach these hot spots, signs warn them that a camera is
watching their every move. Still, more than a few numbskulls inevitably pass
through, winning a $90 fine -- which contributed to almost $20 million in
cash for the city last year.

Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley -- like every other sane politician who
advocates installing red-light cameras -- insists that the cameras' primary
purpose is safety. Indeed, an early test of the system showed that accidents
fell by 23 percent after cameras were installed at dangerous intersections.
But Burke -- who says that two other aldermen, Isaac Carothers and Thomas
Allen, will join him in pushing the ban -- put the lie to the safety-first
agenda. Red-light violation money "is budgeted in our annual appropriation
ordinance," he said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "That is why all
these cameras are being installed. The reality is that people blow through
these intersections and they are going to be caught and they are going to be
fined. It has become a big revenue source, absolutely." He added: "I don't
think the [city's] goal is to allow the motorist to subvert the system that
we are spending so much money on."

Got that? The "reality" is that people are going to blow through
intersections. Sure, a device that warns people of an upcoming red-light
camera could change that "reality" by forcing speedy drivers to obey the
law. And, true, everyone says that forcing people to heed the lights is the
very point of installing red-light cameras.

But not really. If drivers obey the rules, you can't fine them. And if you
can't fine people, what's the point of being an alderman?

[Via the Chicago Tribune.