An Illinois Democrat lawmaker is calling for an investigation into Chicago red-light cameras that seem to discriminate by location.
Illinois State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, reacted to data showing that over a year, Chicago’s South Side had red-light camera tickets issued 2.5 times more than those issued on the city’s North Side.
The Illinois Policy Institute analyzed 614,498 tickets issued across the city in its study. The tickets generated $61.4 million in fines through the month of September and showed the disparity in numbers as an average of 9,132 tickets were issued from red-light cameras on the South Side. This amounted to 5,521 more than each. North Side camera, according to The Center Square.
BREAKING: Illinois State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D) is calling for an investigation into Chicago traffic light cameras because they are apparently racist. pic.twitter.com/vUW7jh3x4w
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 21, 2024
“It’s clearly a money grab and it’s not fair,” Ford, told The Center Square. “The question is are the people on the South Side of Chicago driving to that degree that they deserve to be disproportionately impacted by a system, or is the system flawed? I would urge the city to do some type of investigation.”
A recent ProPublica study found that those hardest hit by the red-light cameras are those in the inner-city neighborhoods of Chicago, The Center Square noted, with Chicago notably having more red-light cameras than any other large city nationwide.
“The tickets are one problem, but the impact that these tickets have on families is devastating,” Ford said. “If I get multiple tickets and I’m placed on a boot list, then my car gets towed and I lose my car. Then I have these tickets and I have to file bankruptcy to eliminate the debt. Government should not be in the business of driving people into poverty. We know that this regressive tax hits people in poverty more and drives people deeper into poverty.”
A camera that snaps photos when it senses ANY CAR runs a red light is racist now. Good grief.🙄
— Sadie (@Sadie_NC) November 21, 2024
“Ford has previously called for a moratorium on the cameras, including after a recent Chicago Tribune report highlighted that the Illinois Department of Transportation determined that over half of the intersections where the cameras were placed were among the safest corners in the state prior to installation,” the outlet reported.
Has anyone considered that Chicago Southside drivers run more red lights because sitting at a red light in south Chicago exposes you to more random gunfire? Seriously. North Chicago has far less shootings. It’s not racist cameras, it’s self preservation.
— griffitovic (@griffitovic) November 22, 2024
“There should be a deep dive investigation to explain because we know that when you compare the traffic stops by human beings, we learned that there was a reason behind it,” the Democrat lawmaker said. “People were racially profiled. We have to ask ourselves how are the residents in the South Side of Chicago receiving three times the number of tickets. I think the public deserves transparency and explanation as to whether there are more chances for this population to be ticketed.”
