Pressure is mounting on red-light camera operators as Democratic Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza announced Monday that, beginning Feb. 6, her office will no longer assist municipalities in collecting fines for violations caught by the devices.
“Over the years, it has become clear that these red-light cameras were less about keeping people safe and more about collecting revenue,” Mendoza said in a street-corner Chicago news conference overlooked by a red-light camera.
The cameras are automated devices that photograph vehicles if they pass through a red light without stopping, and generate a citation to the vehicle’s owner. Local governments typically split the revenue from citations with vendors that place the cameras.