BanRedCams.com

Special Legislative Update
by BanRedCams Political Director Jon Zahm

SB 2466, the bill to ban red light cameras in Illinois, is getting a hearing today at 400 Capitol at 6 PM.

Call subcommittee members now!
Chair Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) 217-782-5304
John Sullivan (D-Rushville) 217-782-2479
A.J. Wilhelmi (D-Joliet) 217-782-8800
Larry Bomke (R-Springfield) 217-782-0228
Gary Dahl (R-LaSalle) 217-782-3840

Emails:
msandoval@senatedem.ilga.gov
senjohn@adams.net
senatorajwilhelmi@sbcglobal.net
senatorbomke@yahoo.com
senatordahl38@yahoo.com

The bill has picked up significant bipartisan support. Take a look at the co-sponsors as of today:

Bill Status of SB2466 96th General Assembly

Short Description: VEH CD-AUTOMATED TRAFFIC LAW

Senate Sponsors
Sen. Dan Duffy – Chris Lauzen – Rickey R. Hendon, Dan Rutherford, J. Bradley Burzynski, Dave Syverson, Matt Murphy, John O. Jones, Mike Jacobs, Kyle McCarter, Tim Bivins, Gary G. Dahl, Randall M. Hultgren, Bill Brady, Michael Noland, Gary Forby and Emil Jones, III

Today is a big day. Thank you Senator Duffy and all the cosponsors of both both parties for your support!

Congratulations to our good friend and resident traffic safety guru, Barnet Fagel, for beating red light cameras in his hometown of Buffalo Grove!

Parking ticket geek has a great article about the debate, which lasted past 11p.m.

The key in Buffalo Grove was steady pressure by regular voters – whenever we, the people, have the time to oppose these cameras, we win!

In a piece on its 10p.m. news, the ABC 7 team featured BanRedCams.com and exposed the truth that red light cameras are about cash – not safety. Thank you, ABC 7!

If you’re visiting BanRedCams for the first time, welcome! There are a few ways you can support the fight to ban red light cameras in our state:

1.Become a “fan” of our Facebook page by clicking the link to your right.

2. Sign the petition to the General Assembly by clicking the link above.

3. Share your story about how red light cameras have impacted you, also by clicking the link above. Have you been hit with a fine that you can’t afford due to unemployment or other financial hardship? Have you been involved in a collision or near-collision due to a red light camera? (In other states, the redcam companies have spent thousands of dollars creating fake “safe driver” groups – we need to match their paid storytellers with some cold hard facts of our own!)

So, we got word that Sen. Dan Duffy’s SB 2466, the bill that will ban redcams in Illinois, was heard this afternoon and assigned to the newly-created “Subcommittee on Red Light Cameras” (a committee so new it didn’t have members yet as of Tuesday night).

This means that we are still alive and kicking – we’ve even received a promise from the chairman of the Transportation Committee, Sen. Martin Sandoval, that we will be heard. Now is the time to turn up the heat – we have it in our power to get redcams banned. Let’s get to work.

Your emails are urgently needed to the members of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Please send an email (or separate ones, if you’d like) to the 11 senators on the committee. You can just copy and paste this list into your email program:

msandoval@senatedem.ilga.gov
johnjmillner@aol.com
info@michaelbond31.com
senatorrisinger@yahoo.com
senatordahl38@yahoo.com
thutchinson@senatedem.ilga.gov
senatorajwilhelmi@sbcglobal.net
senatorkoehler@grics.net
senjohn@adams.net
senatorbomke@yahoo.com
senatorforby@yahoo.com

If you would also like to call these Transportation Committee senators, here are their numbers – use the Springfield (217) number, since they will be in their offices on Tuesday:

Here is sample text for your subject line and email message. Make sure to put your name at the bottom:

—
Subject: SUPPORT SB2466 – Repeal Red Light Cameras

I strongly support Senator Duffy’s bill, SB2466 – Repeal of all Red Light Cameras. Ohio and Minnesota have already repealed these cameras and Illinois must do the same. These cameras have proven to be all about REVENUE and not about safety. Since the cameras have been installed, studies have shown that accidents have actually INCREASED in the intersections where cameras are located.

Over 90% of tickets issued by these cameras are from turning Right on Red. If that is a problem in certain intersections, shouldn’t towns first install “No Turn On Red” signs at troubled intersections?

Corruption is a serious problem in Illinois and these cameras are making a bad situation worse. Elected officials (legislators, mayors, village administrators) are making deals with camera companies without consulting their constituents. Politicians are receiving large campaign contributions, towns / villages are receiving piles of cash from these cameras AND camera companies are receiving 30-50% of every ticket issued! That is a clear “conflict of interest”. Camera companies are making millions of dollars a month from hard working Illinois citizens.

We all are innocent until proven guilty. However these automatic tickets make us guilty until we prove we are innocent. For a $100 ticket citizens must pay over a thousand dollars to hire a lawyer, take time off work and go fight a camera. There is also NO uniformity in the law as to how these tickets are issued. Every town sets their own criteria regarding “how” and “when” red light tickets are issued. That “inconsistency” from town to town is a violation of Illinois state law.

Please join me in SUPPORTING SB2466. I will be watching to see how you vote.

Thank You.

—

Sen. Dan Duffy just sent out this news release going into the weekend:

Springfield, Illinois— Legislation that seeks to remove all red light cameras in Illinois is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday, February 16th. The main sponsor and initiator of the legislation, State Senator Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) is eager to see the legislation pass and move to the Senate floor for a vote.

“This is what we have been waiting for,” said Senator Duffy. “It’s time to end the red light racket in  Illinois.”

Senate Bill 2466 would repeal all existing red light camera legislation, except for those cameras located in construction zones and at railroad crossings.  Currently, red light cameras are notorious for ticketing drivers making legal right hand turns at red lights. Violations are usually one hundred dollars; with a large portion of the money going to the private companies that install, maintain and regulate the cameras.

Senator Duffy also noted that currently the legislation has 16 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle.

“Ending the use of red light cameras is a true bi-partisan effort,” stated Duffy. “This issue impacts everyone who drives a car and lives in Illinois.”

An anti-redcam rally is being held at noon this Sunday, Valentine’s Day, at Addison & Western in Chicago. Is there a better way to show your love for good government than to take your sweetheart to a redcam rally?

The rally is co-sponsored by local state representative candidate, Scott Tucker, and the “Cook County Campaign for Liberty,” and will feature our good friend and redcam guru, Barnet Fagel. Thanks to the good folks at the Campaign for Liberty for joining the fight – their site has been added to our BanRedCams blogroll.

Thank you to Republican Sen. Carole Pankau for proposing to ban redcam right-turn-on-red violations – let’s keep up the calls and emails and urge her to to support a full ban on  redcams!

However, redcam supporter, Republican Sen. John Millner, has just introduced Senate Bill 3140 that he says provides a “comprehensive re-write of the red-light camera law.” What is the main “reform” provided by his “comprehensive” bill?

… drumroll please …

PAINT THE CAMERAS YELLOW!

This is absolutely insane. The Daily Herald said this about the Millner plan:

We’d like to say this is a start toward reforming the kinds of wholesale mismanagement associated with red-light cameras, but come on.

Wait, there’s more. The Daily Herald staff did a lot of reporting on redcams in 2009 and eventually condemned the way that municipalities ticket right-turn-on-red violations. Looks like the Millner bill went over with the DH staff like a red cape in front of a bull:

Millner’s proposal does nothing to address [this] situation[]. Indeed, he pointedly emphasized that he doesn’t want to do anything to address the right-turn issue for fear it would send “a bad message” to motorists that an incomplete stop before a right turn on red is OK.

What the legislation doesn’t seem to recognize is the “bad message” sent by current red-light enforcement that the law exists as a cash cow for local communities and does little to improve safety.

If you or someone you know lives in Sen. Millner’s district, give him a call and urge him to support Sen. Dan Duffy’s ban on redcams – Sen. Millner’s office #’s are (217) 782-8192 and (630) 351-9340. Send him an email, too, at johnjmillner@aol.com. Sen. Millner’s district is shown below:

View Illinois Senate District 28 in a larger map

Sen. Dan Duffy’s Bill to “BanRedCams,” Senate Bill 2466, now has a large and bipartisan group of co-sponsors. With chief co-sponsors, Sens. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora) and Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago), the group includes senators from Sen. Emil Jones to Sen. Bill Brady.

Here are the sponsoring and co-sponsoring senators to add to your Christmas/Hanakkah/Kwanza/Festivus card list:

Sen. Dan Duffy (Chief Sponsor & Our Hero)
Sen. Rickey R. Hendon (Chief Co-Sponsor)
Sen. Chris Lauzen (Chief Co-Sponsor)
Sen. Dan Rutherford
Sen. J. Bradley Burzynski
Sen. Dave Syverson
Sen. Matt Murphy
Sen. John O. Jones
Sen. Mike Jacobs
Sen. Kyle McCarter
Sen. Tim Bivins
Sen. Gary G. Dahl
Sen. Randall M. Hultgren
Sen. Bill Brady
Sen. Michael Noland
Sen. Gary Forby
Sen. Emil Jones, III

Okay, one more time. The federal bare minimum standard for yellow light times under absolutely perfect weather and visibility conditions is 3 seconds. However, we live in Northern Illinois, where for most of our year, weather and visibility are decidedly imperfect.

Now, Barnet Fagel, red-light camera guru and our Illinois representative of the National Motorists Association, has a new video that shows the City of Chicago has shortened the yellow light times for its traffic lights to 2.5 seconds, in order to trap unsuspecting drivers with redcams.

Corruption in the City of Chicago? Putting the screws to regular folks while politicians and their cronies make off like bandits?

Either you can keep taking it – or you can join the fight to ban redcams:

1. Join the Facebook page.

2. Sign the petition to the General Assembly asking that they ban red light cameras.

3. Share your red light camera story with us. Your story could help change the minds and hearts of others about redcams. (We’ll ask your permission before using your name with the story.)

4. Get this article or any others that interest you to your friends using the handy “Share/Save” button at the bottom of each article.