In January 2025, Chicago’s City Council passed a resolution establishing an Equity in Enforcement Working Group tasked with developing recommendations for moving Chicago toward a more equitable and effective system of speed enforcement. The report from the working group, released in September 2025, offered 16 recommendations centered around improving transparency, effectiveness, and equity in its automated speed camera program. The goal was to balance safety needs with the significant financial impact of ticketing, which often leads to an accumulation of unpaid tickets and deeper legal consequences. Members of the Working Group included representatives from various city departments, alderman offices, and non-profit groups concerned with traffic safety and equity. The report and the full set of recommendations were provided to the City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety on September 22, 2025.
Read the full report here.
Recommendations:
- The City’s Department of Finance (DoF) should eliminate all fees and collections costs related to tickets.
- DoF should lower base fines and create options for reduced or partial payments aligning with a person’s ability to pay.
- Cameras should not replace more equitable safety solutions such as road redesign or infrastructure changes aimed at reducing speeds.
- Funds generated by the program should be placed into a “lockbox” to be used only on pedestrian and traffic safety investments, and specific goals or guidelines should be used to deter the City from relying on camera revenue as an ongoing funding source.
- The City should set up positive incentives for good driving behavior (e.g., discounts on city stickers or debt forgiveness for long periods of good driving).
- The City’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) should install speed feedback signs at all speed camera locations to alert drivers of their speed and provide them with the chance to adjust behavior in the moment.
- CDOT should reassess camera locations where safety outcomes have not improved, including taking down or relocating those found ineffective.
- Noticing, education, or infrastructure change should be used in conjunction with or instead of speed cameras that are not creating behavior change.
- The Office of Budget and Management (OBM) should clearly and regularly communicate how funds generated through speed cameras are used and how this contributes to safer streets.
- CDOT should build and maintain a public dashboard with ticket data, revenue use, camera effectiveness data, and crash outcomes.