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| Courtesy of chides @ SXC |
With the plan to add about 500 new speed cameras around schools and parks pushed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, I find it very disturbing that public interest is quite mild. With the existing 380 red-light cameras already in service, city of Chicago will become a "leader in safety".
With WSJ reporting that Chicago already pockets $68 million a year from the red-light cameras, how much would Chicagoans dish out for fines?
Conservatively, lets say half of those cams would get business during the school days:
270 days x 250 cams x $35 (6 miles over limit) = $2,362,500
The other half would catch drivers around parks all year around:
365 days x 250 cams x $35 (6 miles over limit) = $3,193,750
Total of $5,556,250 would be split between the city of Chicago and Redflex Traffic Systems represented by Greg Goldner (Mayor strong supported) acting as a link between the Mayor and the company.
But it gets better. The fine for speeding 11 miles over the speed limit goes up to $100. Shall we?
270 days x 250 cams x $100 = $6,750,000
365 days x 250 cams x $100 = $9,125,000
That makes $15,875,000 pot of gold available for grabs. Maybe I should start a traffic-cam company? There's money there.
So, since the speed cam ordinance was approved by the City Council committee in 7-3 vote, let the games begin. Lights, camera, wallet! Your wallet.
