Revenue from Chicago speed cameras more than doubles after 6-10 mph change: data

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It's been more than two years since city of Chicago speed cameras started issuing tickets for people going 6 to 10 miles over the limit.

The ABC7 Chicago I-Team is comparing crash data, before and after the change.

The city of Chicago used to issue speed camera tickets for going 10 miles per hour or more, over the limit -- $35 for 10 miles over and $100 for 11 mph or more. Now, motorists can get a $35 ticket going 6-10 over.

The city of Chicago's Department of Transportation said there has been a 15% reduction in the speeding tickets issued to drivers going over 11 miles per hour, since the new rule went into effect, and that drivers overall are slowing down.

The ABC7 Chicago Data Team researched the crash numbers on the city's data portal and found from March 2019 to Feb. 28, 2021, two years before the 6-10 mph ticketing, there were nearly 1,800 incapacitating injury or fatal crashes within 250 meters of a speed camera.

From March 2021 to Feb. 28, 2023, the two years after the 6-10 mph rule went into effect, there were about 1,900 incapacitating injury or fatal crashes within 250 meters of a camera.

"You know, I know that they're trying keep everything safe, but I just think it's about money," said Marvin Gary, who has received numerous tickets for going 6-10 mph over the limit.

Through information obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request, the I-Team found there has been a drastic increase in revenue.

In the two-year period before the 6-10 mph rule went into effect, the city made about $77 million.

For two years after the new rule started, the city made more than twice as much money, about $185,200,000 in tickets.

Sixty percent of those tickets were from people going 6-10 mph over the limit. Eleven percent were from drivers going 11 mph, or more, over the speed limit. The remaining 29% of tickets are warnings with no cost to drivers.

The remaining 40% of those tickets in the last two years were warnings, or they were given to drivers going 11 miles per hour or more over the limit.

CDOT declined to comment for this story.

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