Will County Gazette

Illinois state Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena) wants to put a stop to red-light cameras across the state.

“There’s no evidence that these red-light cameras have been an effective safety tool or provided any real benefit to our citizens, only that they’ve been a boon to local coffers,” McDermed said in a press release. “When it comes to these systems, they’re proliferating despite the bad clearly outweighing the good.”

A new Illinois Policy Institute report finds that Chicago has the most red-light cameras in the country and the state has pocketed nearly $720 million from the use of the devices over the last decade.

Illinois state Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago)

“While I want safer streets, these camera systems have clearly been a vehicle for corruption,” said McDermed, who has joined on as a co-sponsor of House Bill 3909, which would ban the installation of new red-light cameras and remove all existing ones in effectively banning their use in tracking the speed of motorists. “Illinoisans deserve better than these shady money-making schemes.”

Federal investigators recently raided the home and office of state Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) as part of a widening corruption probe looking into the system through which the cameras were installed. In a 2017 incident, Sandoval reportedly intervened on behalf of a red light camera company to get approval for an installation in Oakbrook Terrace after the request had been denied by the Illinois Department of Transportation. At the same time, Sandoval is reported to have been receiving campaign donations from the company.

Up until recently, Sandoval served as the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee before being forced to step down as the corruption intensified.

With the House set to return to Springfield later this month, HB 3909 now sits in committee assignment in the Rules Committee.