FoI in the USA: Red light cameras bring in the dollars

Red-light cameras often -- but don't always -- translate into big money for suburbs that install them.

West suburban Bellwood kept more than $1.1 million last year in red-light camera revenue, according to figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Bellwood did not reveal how much it paid its camera vendors, Lombard-based Redspeed and Australia-owned Redflex.

Southwest suburban Bolingbrook briefly had 10 cameras operating in 2007 before pulling the plug. In August of that year, fines collected topped $261,000, with a little more than half going to Bolingbrook and the rest to Redspeed, invoices show.

In west suburban Berwyn, however, it is Redspeed, not the town, that usually keeps most of the monthly split from ticket revenue generated by the city's four cameras. In April, for example, fine collections totaled $18,000 and Redspeed's share came to $13,327, invoices show.

Red-light camera revenue varies in suburbs (Chicago Tribune, 12 July 2009)

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