CHICAGO URBAN DAILY
CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— Smile for the camera, Chicago. Your bike lanes are getting watchful eyes — and this time the program is headed citywide and permanent.
On Friday, the City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety passed Ald. Daniel La Spata’s ordinance to expand the Smart Streets Pilot, the automated camera enforcement program that tickets drivers blocking bike and bus lanes. The measure cleared committee unanimously and rolls out in three phases, eventually covering the whole city. It could get a final vote before the full Council as soon as Wednesday, October 14.
The numbers La Spata’s office cites are striking. The pilot program has issued more than 140,000 citations and brought in roughly $2 million in revenue. And the deterrent effect appears real: 82% of drivers who get a warning never get a ticket, and 64% of those who do get a first ticket never get a second.
“Too many friends have been seriously injured, and too many families have lost loved ones. We need to design streets for everyone — especially kids getting around in our neighborhoods,” La Spata wrote after the vote.
The committee meeting also delivered a win for the other side of the bike lane. The proposed Divvy/Lyft contract extension was deferred, stalling a deal critics say locks in bad terms for the city.
If the full Council signs off Wednesday, automated enforcement on bike and bus lanes stops being a pilot and starts being the law of the road, permanently — cameras watching every neighborhood, not just the downtown corridors where it started.
Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily for the vote.
Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.
