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    • Automated ticketing of parking violators on buses and bike lanes begins downtown trial
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    Automated ticketing of parking violators on buses and bike lanes begins downtown trial

    Umito Posted on

    The city launched a program Monday to automatically ticket drivers parked illegally in downtown bike and road lanes, more than a year after the City Council approved the pilot project that uses cameras mounted on city vehicles. the city.

    Vehicle owners will receive warning notices by mail during the first 30 days of the Smart Street pilot ordinance. From December 5, drivers will receive a warning for the first offense, followed by fines for additional offenses. The ordinance also covers parking violations in paid and specially designated spaces.

    The pilot project, which will expire two years after the first fine is issued, is limited to an area bounded by North Avenue, Ashland Avenue, Roosevelt Road and Lake Michigan.

    It took more than a year and a half for the city’s Transportation Department to launch the pilot ordinance passed by the City Council in March 2023 under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

    Transportation Commissioner Tom Carney said choosing a vendor took longer than expected when asked about the delay during a launch event Monday at Chicago and Milwaukee avenues . The goal of the ordinance is not to impose fines, Carney said, but to improve traffic safety and speed up bus routes by deterring violators from parking in bus lanes.

    “These bus lanes help reduce travel times and make public transportation more efficient, but a single vehicle illegally stopped in a designated bus lane creates delays for dozens of passengers,” Carney said.

    Smart Street Driver

    A Ministry of Finance vehicle has been equipped with cameras that will help the City automatically ticket drivers parked illegally in downtown bus and bicycle lanes or in specially designated parking spaces.

    Tickets will be issued for several parking ordinances already in effect: $90 fines for parking in a bus lane, $250 fines for obstructing bike lanes, $50 tickets for parking in expired meters outside the central business district and $140 fines for parked personal vehicles. in commercial loading areas.

    Cameras were installed on eight Ministry of Finance vehicles used by municipal ticket writers. The Chicago Transit Authority is seeking to add cameras by spring to up to six buses that use Dearborn Street, Madison Street, Washington Street and Chicago Avenue, according to the Department of Transportation.

    The city has been testing ticketing cameras for two weeks, according to city controller Chasse Rehwinkel.

    Smart Streets Pilot Project

    A Ministry of Finance equipped with cameras to automatically fine drivers parked illegally in the city center.

    Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), chairman of the city council’s committee on pedestrian and traffic safety, said the pilot project is a “common sense solution” to improve bus service and road safety for residents. cyclists who sometimes have to ride on the roadway when cycle lanes are blocked. .

    “We want, when you get on the bus, to feel like this is one of the smartest and best decisions you’ve made today,” La Spata said. “When you choose to bike to work (or) the grocery store, we want you to feel like it’s one of the best, safest and most comfortable decisions we’ve made that day.

    “But when those pathways are blocked, you feel angry and frustrated at best. You feel unsafe and, at worst, unsafe.

    La Spata sponsors draft ordinance to allow residents to submit photos of parking violators to the city, as well as another proposal to reduce the citywide speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph.

    Ald. Transportation Committee Vice Chairman Andre Vasquez (40th) said the goal of the pilot project was to reduce deaths and injuries to pedestrians and cyclists due to blocked bike lanes. He highlighted the death in 2022 of Lily Grace Shambrock, 3 years oldwho was fatally struck by a truck on the back of her parents’ bicycle as they drove around an illegally parked vehicle in Uptown.

    “The objective is not turnover. The goal is to have no revenue because no one is blocking the bike path,” Vasquez said.

    The city’s Transportation Department must file a report to the City Council on the effectiveness of the pilot project, 120 days before it expires, to help aldermen decide whether to expand the program.

    Umito
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