My red light camera has disappeared
where'd it go? and why'd it leave?
07/02/2011 12:26 PM
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I was just thinking the other night, when I was relaxing in the tub, blinds down in the bathroom, lights low--how come I never see that red light camera flashing anymore? That flash so bright while capturing the license plate numbers of errant drivers that it produced an after-image even if my eyes were closed?
I guess every single driver who drives through the intersection at Roosevelt and State has learned his/her lesson and slows down on the approach, never trying to beat the few seconds of yellow, I surmised. They must have learned "Safety First," but if not, then at least the pain of paying big bucks to a municipality that takes your money, while providing only a surreptitious photograph as evidence against you.
My suspicions were riled. So the next morning I walked out there and looked in every direction. And by golly, every camera on all sides of the intersection was gone. Not just disabled or unused. But taken out completely, just like they'd never been there.
I thought about the time they were put in. How they flashed so much I thought I'd go nuts. How the alderman at the time arranged for a a nice young representative of the private company that installed them to come to my house and make an adjustment. He adjusted so well that through the years, they flashed not anywhere near as bright in my kitchen, my dining room--and every other room in my house--as they had. And finally, a flashing was so rare, I sort of welcomed one now and then as a beacon of the past.
And now nothing.
So what happened? Does anyone know? Were they ruled unconstitutional and somehow I missed it? Did the City wake up after finding out that the intersections that had them actually had a 67 percent increase in accidents? Did the revenue they were generating not outweigh their costs? Was our broke City unable to pay the company that installed and maintained them?
What happened?