Topic:
Red-light camera reform
(Cullerton, D-Chicago; D’Amico, D-Chicago) makes several changes to the use of red-light cameras that give tickets automatically. (1) Requires that a law-enforcement officer (or retired one) must review and approve all determinations by a technician that a car committed a red-light camera violation. (2) Governments are prohibited from charging an additional fee to an alleged violator for exercising his or her right to an administrative hearing. In other words, no “trial tax.” (3) The motorist must also be given at least 25 days after an administrative hearing to pay any civil penalty. (4) Requires governments that produce a recorded image of a red-light camera violation to make those images accessible to the motorist on a website address on the Internet. (5) Prohibits a red-light violation if the motorist moves past the stop line or cross walk if the vehicle comes to a complete stop and does not enter the intersection. But it appears to create an exception to this prohibition if there pedestrians or bicyclists present. Effective January 1, 2011.