Activist Calls On Aldermen To Roll Back Changes To Rules That Lowered Speeding Threshold For Tickets From Chicago Speed Cameras
CHICAGO (CBS) -- CBS 2 Investigator Dorothy Tucker was the first to expose mislabeled speed camera warning signs.
She was also the first to report on the alarming number of drivers getting speeding tickets since the city changed the rules.
Now, a community activist is calling on Chicago alderman to roll back the changes to the traffic camera rules.
Before March, a driver didn't get a ticket unless they were going 10 mph or more over the speed limit.
But on March 1, the threshold dropped to just 6 mph over the limit, and the number of speeding tickets the city issued surged more to more than 300,000 in the first two months.
Fines topped $11 million.
On Monday, community activists demanded city leaders support an amendment by Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) to reverse the speed threshold change.
"We're calling on the City Council to stand up - and in particular, I am calling on the 20 Black aldermen that represent the people in the most vulnerable part of the city - to stand up for the citizens that they represent," said Mark Wallace of Citizens to Abolish Red Light Cameras. "They know this is unfair, they know that it's unwarranted, and they know that the people of their community cannot afford this."
Ald. Beale said the amendment is stalled in the rules committee.
