There’s a mountain of evidence from around the world that automated traffic enforcement saves lives. For example, a 2012 study in the Journal of Accident Analysis and Prevention credited the widespread use of speed cameras in France with saving more than 15,000 lives over a seven-year period.
They quoted a dozen or so drivers who complained that the tickets they received were unfair because they were issued while parks were closed, children weren’t present in school zones, or warning signs were missing, contrary to state law and city ordinance.
The reporters also chose not to discuss the reasons speed enforcement is crucial, not just for the safety of children, but for everybody. The city’s default speed limit is 30 mph, and for good reason: studies show that pedestrians who are struck at this speed usually survive, while those struck at 40 almost always die.
That issue reared its head earlier this month at Keystone Park, a playground in the Hermosa neighborhood, when three cams were activated on nearby Pulaski and North avenues, out of eyeshot from the green space. “To justify the installation of those speed cameras on the basis of safety of kids, it just doesn’t fly,” 26th Ward alderman Roberto Maldonado told DNAinfo. “It’s a money grab.”
Claffey added that the city’s speed cams are reducing injury crashes. A preliminary analysis found that crashes with injuries dropped by 4 percent citywide between 2012—the year before the first speed cams were installed—and 2014. However, injury crashes dropped 18 percent—a dramatic improvement—within the 21 safety zones where speed cams were installed in 2013. Severe and fatal crashes went down a full 22 percent.
