Red light cameras tag thousands for undeserved tickets
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-red-light-camera-ticket-spikes-met-20140717-story.html#page=1
Thousands of Chicago drivers have been tagged with $100 red light fines they did not deserve, targeted by robotic cameras during a series of sudden spikes in tickets that city officials say they cannot explain, a Tribune investigation has found.
The Tribune's analysis of more than 4 million tickets issued since 2007 and a deeper probe of individual cases revealed clear evidence that the deviations in Chicago's network of 380 cameras were caused by faulty equipment, human tinkering or both.
Chicago transportation officials say they had no knowledge of the wild swings in ticketing until they were told by the Tribune â even though City Hall legally required the camera vendor to watch for the slightest anomaly in ticketing patterns every day. Many of the spikes lasted weeks.
The lack of oversight raises new questions about the controversial traffic enforcement program, the largest in the country, now embroiled in a federal corruption probe into allegations that the city's longtime red light camera manager took bribes from the camera company.
âSomething is terribly amiss here,â said Joseph Schofer, an associate dean at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science who reviewed the Tribune's research.
Schofer, who has served as an adviser on city transportation committees, said the findings prove âthe system is broken.â
Schofer, who has served as an adviser on city transportation committees, said the findings prove âthe system is broken.â
âThe only reasonable explanation is that it is something involved in the technology,â he said. âWhether it's diabolical or mechanical or electronic and accidental, I can't look inside people's souls and know that, but the evidence is pretty strong.â
He and three other national experts who reviewed the Tribune's findings suggested that drivers are entitled to refunds, whatever the cause of the spikes.
A 10-month Tribune investigation documented more than 13,000 questionable tickets at 12 intersections that experienced the most striking spikes; similar patterns emerged at dozens of other intersections responsible for tens of thousands more tickets. Among the key findings:
Cameras that for years generated just a few tickets daily suddenly caught dozens of drivers a day. One camera near the United Center rocketed from generating one ticket per day to 56 per day for a two-week period last summer before mysteriously dropping back to normal.
Tickets for so-called rolling right turns on red shot up during some of the most dramatic spikes, suggesting an unannounced change in enforcement. One North Side camera generated only a dozen tickets for rolling rights out of 100 total tickets in the entire second half of 2011. Then, over a 12-day spike, it spewed 563 tickets â 560 of them for rolling rights.
Many of the spikes were marked by periods immediately before or after when no tickets were issued â downtimes suggesting human intervention that should have been documented. City officials said they cannot explain the absence of such records.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-red-light-camera-ticket-spikes-met-20140717-story.html#page=1
Thousands of Chicago drivers have been tagged with $100 red light fines they did not deserve, targeted by robotic cameras during a series of sudden spikes in tickets that city officials say they cannot explain, a Tribune investigation has found.
The Tribune's analysis of more than 4 million tickets issued since 2007 and a deeper probe of individual cases revealed clear evidence that the deviations in Chicago's network of 380 cameras were caused by faulty equipment, human tinkering or both.
Chicago transportation officials say they had no knowledge of the wild swings in ticketing until they were told by the Tribune â even though City Hall legally required the camera vendor to watch for the slightest anomaly in ticketing patterns every day. Many of the spikes lasted weeks.
The lack of oversight raises new questions about the controversial traffic enforcement program, the largest in the country, now embroiled in a federal corruption probe into allegations that the city's longtime red light camera manager took bribes from the camera company.
âSomething is terribly amiss here,â said Joseph Schofer, an associate dean at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science who reviewed the Tribune's research.
Schofer, who has served as an adviser on city transportation committees, said the findings prove âthe system is broken.â
Schofer, who has served as an adviser on city transportation committees, said the findings prove âthe system is broken.â
âThe only reasonable explanation is that it is something involved in the technology,â he said. âWhether it's diabolical or mechanical or electronic and accidental, I can't look inside people's souls and know that, but the evidence is pretty strong.â
He and three other national experts who reviewed the Tribune's findings suggested that drivers are entitled to refunds, whatever the cause of the spikes.
A 10-month Tribune investigation documented more than 13,000 questionable tickets at 12 intersections that experienced the most striking spikes; similar patterns emerged at dozens of other intersections responsible for tens of thousands more tickets. Among the key findings:
Cameras that for years generated just a few tickets daily suddenly caught dozens of drivers a day. One camera near the United Center rocketed from generating one ticket per day to 56 per day for a two-week period last summer before mysteriously dropping back to normal.
Tickets for so-called rolling right turns on red shot up during some of the most dramatic spikes, suggesting an unannounced change in enforcement. One North Side camera generated only a dozen tickets for rolling rights out of 100 total tickets in the entire second half of 2011. Then, over a 12-day spike, it spewed 563 tickets â 560 of them for rolling rights.
Many of the spikes were marked by periods immediately before or after when no tickets were issued â downtimes suggesting human intervention that should have been documented. City officials said they cannot explain the absence of such records.
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