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-Drew

by Allen Skillicorn

It was 5:30PM, Friday June 26th. The sound of honking horns and backed up traffic in East Dundee, IL along route 68. The lane turning right on to route 72 was backed up more usual for a Friday evening. The company RedSpeed, LLC and the village of East Dundee are to thank for this extra congestion and frustration. Last week East Dundee installed their first red-light-camera at the intersection of route 68 and route 72.  Naperville company RedSpeed, LLC markets revenue producing red-light-cameras under the illusion of safety. Many motorists are now afraid to make legal right turn on the red light, because of the possible $100 fine. All public officials should be for improving safety. These village officials were so blinded by promises of revenue, that they ignored real engineering solutions that promote safety. To emphasize this point, The National Motorists Association (NMA), issues a $10,000 challenge for cities willing to try engineering solutions instead of red-light-cameras. Click here for more information about the NMA Challenge.

Red-light-cameras are problematic for motorists. The automated devices are prone to mistakes that real law enforcement officers do not make. Mis-functioning lights, intentionally short yellow lights, or unknown drivers leave motorists with a stacked deck against them. Actual examples: driver yields to an emergency vehicle, your mechanic rolls a right turn on red, or the equipment is mistimed. In each example the registered owner of the vehicle received a $100 fine in the mail. These are not criminal fines, nor are they connected to your drivers license or insurance. There is no presumption of innocence. There is no officer to cross examine at your hearing. You have no right to review the maintenance record of the device. Simply it is cheaper to pay the fine than stand up for your rights.

Do these devices promote safety or are they a cash cow for the camera companies and cities? Reducing red light running should lead to less accidents, but the opposite is actually the truth. Blatant red runners are very dangerous, but also statistically very rare. The majority of red light violations are the failing to come to a complete stop while making a right turn on red and yellow lights that are too short for the pace of traffic. The profit motive behind red-light-cameras has the companies aggressively marketing to towns. RedSpeed, LLC receives $30 per violation issued. A busy intersection can generate hundreds, if not thousands of these $100 fines per day! Both the city and RedSpeed, LLC have no desire to reduce the number of ‘customers’. Cities and camera companies have been caught trying to rig the system for more violations by using shorter yellow light times. Click here to see details of Californian city being caught ‘red handed’. Motorist now have the tendency to brake hard when lights turn yellow. This disregard for safety versus profit has proven to increase the number of rear end collisions at these intersections. The intensity and injuries of these accidents have also increased. Click here to read Red-Light Cameras Increase Accidents: 5 Studies That Prove It.

What can motorists do to prevent getting this $100 fine? It has been suggested to not creep into the intersection and always stay behind the white line. It has also been suggested not to make right turns on a red light. The equipment commonly misjudges the movement as creeping past the white line and incorrectly issues a violation. Not turning right on red also leads to more traffic delays that should encourage officials to take down cameras. Urge your public officials to seek real engineering solutions, not quasi-income generation. In the case of East Dundee, IL, Trustees Michael Ruffulo, Robert Gorman, James Carlini (Ret), John Cichowski, Kathleen Mahony (Ret), and former Village President O’Leary voted to let RedSpeed, LLC install these cameras.They can be contacted at formal village meetings and through the village’s website.

For more details about the profit motives and the red-light-cameras, please click here.

]]> http://northwestinsider.net/?feed=rss2&p=587 http://northwestinsider.net/?p=527 http://northwestinsider.net/?p=527#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:03:49 +0000 Drew http://northwestinsider.net/?p=527 -crossposted from the Beacon News:

GENEVA — It took three votes — including one that went to a chairman’s tiebreaker — but a non-binding resolution in support of the Second Amendment won Kane County Board approval Tuesday.

The 19-4 vote, with one member voting present, didn’t come without some jousting by board members. Drawn up as a general recitation of the constitution’s guarantee of freedom to keep and bear arms, the resolution weathered one attempt to table it for more discussion and one member’s effort to strengthen its opposition to restrictive gun legislation…(read full)

A statewide organization has named Kane County Treasurer David J. Rickert as Illinois County Treasurer of the Year.

The award, given by the Illinois County Treasurer Association, cites a number of improvements Rickert has helped implement since first being elected in 1998.(read full)

It’s back to the drawing board for the Aurora Township Democrats.

A Kane County judge overturned the decision to seat Christina Campos as the nominee for township supervisor, leaving the Democrats without a candidate for the April 7 election.

Judge Michael Colwell ruled Friday the confusion surrounding the original nominations meant Campos should not be seated as the candidate.

Campos’ nomination had been challenged by the two runners-up, attorney Paul Greviskes and current Supervisor Annie Craig, citing violations of state law and local caucus rules…. (read full)

The downtown of the economy supplied the ammunition for the first disagreement between the two candidates for St. Charles mayor Monday.

Challenger Jotham Stein called out Don DeWitte in a written statement, saying the incumbent mayor has done a poor job of preparing the city for “trying times.” However, DeWitte cited several financial moves that have benefitted residents during the first term of his administration….

“Don DeWitte has mismanaged our city’s finances and, as a result of his actions, he is planning to cut police and fire department services at a time when our population has increased,” Stein said in his statement. “DeWitte irresponsibly cut the city’s food and beverage tax a few years ago without planning for the future and now, in the most trying times, he has raised property taxes on us and is cutting city services.”…

“I make no apologies regarding the tax reductions we have implemented, and the city council has approved, over the last four years,” wrote DeWitte in response to Stein’s accusations. “In addition, his statement that I have ‘raised property taxes’ is blatantly false. The city’s property tax rate was reduced by 3 percent in 2006, and has remained constant since that time, also having been approved by the city council. This reduction followed a nearly 50 percent increase in the city’s tax rate during the previous administration’s eight years.”…(read full)

]]> http://northwestinsider.net/?feed=rss2&p=471 http://northwestinsider.net/?p=461 http://northwestinsider.net/?p=461#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:14:55 +0000 Drew http://northwestinsider.net/?p=461 -crossposted from the Daily Herald:

Elgin Community College trustees unanimously decided Tuesday to draft a referendum request for the April 7 ballot.

They will ask for the sale of $178 million in bonds - used to fund the first portion of a $387 million master plan to fully update the college by 2030.

The request, according to college estimates, works out to about 3.5 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation, or EAV. For the owner of a $200,000 home, taxes would increase by approximately $23 each year; for the owner of a $350,000 home, about $40.

The bonds would go toward purchasing land adjacent to ECC’s Elgin campus; expanding and redesigning its library; updating parking lots and reconfiguring traffic patterns on campus; renovating its student resource center; and adding a new training facility for police, firefighters and emergency management technicians…(read full)

A third candidate will appear on the April 7 ballot for the position of Carpentersville village board president.

Local business owner Jim Krenz this week announced his intention to run against Village President Bill Sarto and Trustee Ed Ritter, both of whom have declared their candidacies for village president.

Krenz, who has lived in the village for about three years and owns Amy Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, says he will bring local government back on track.

The vacillation and behavior of a few board members, Krenz said, has tarnished the village’s reputation and driven residents, as well as businesses, away.

“The focus of our village board and president must be to manage our tax dollars and the delivery of public services with diligence, honesty and prudent oversight,” Krenz said in a prepared statement. “Our current village board, president, village manager and management staff seem locked into a world of utter confusion and indecisiveness.”

That trend needs to cease, said Krenz, who was unsuccessful last year in his primary bid for the Republican nomination in the 49th Illinois House District… (read full)

Former West Dundee Trustee John Mayer will be the newest Kane County Board member when he is appointed to fill the seat vacated by John Noverini in the near future.

The Kane County Republican Central Committee mailed out an official letter to Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay on Tuesday naming Mayer as its selection. McConnaughay said Wednesday she’d make the appointment based on the committee’s recommendation.

The GOP gets to make the selection because Noverini was a Republican when elected to the board. He became a Democrat only after he was seated. Thus, Republicans make the pick because a Republican was seated by the voters originally… (read full)

Plans to turn a former Dundee Township gravel pit into a recreational destination will pick up steam this spring, after the township recently was awarded almost $1.3 million in state grants.

The township received a $897,735 grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and another $400,000 from the state’s Department of Natural Resources for the Jelke Creek Bird Sanctuary.

The funding will help pay for improvements on about 160 acres of the 264-acre site north of Boncosky Road, near the intersection of Sleepy Hollow Road… (read full)