{"id":51647,"date":"2025-07-09T14:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/51647\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T14:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:51:08","slug":"chicago-suburb-ends-red-light-camera-program-after-16-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/51647\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago suburb ends red-light camera program after 16 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LAKE COUNTY, Ill.<\/strong> – Gurnee has officially ended its red-light camera program after more than a decade of using it to improve traffic safety.<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

The Village of Gurnee shut down its Red-Light Photo Enforcement Program on July 5 when its contract with Redflex Traffic Systems\u2014now Verra Mobility\u2014expired.<\/p>\n

Officials said the decision came after reviewing both its safety benefits and recent operational problems.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

The program began in 2009 to reduce red-light violations at dangerous intersections, and data shows it worked.<\/p>\n

In the five years before cameras were installed, Gurnee averaged 1,424 crashes annually. In the five years after, that dropped to 967 per year \u2014 a 32% reduction.<\/p>\n

“This program was never about catching people, it was about protecting them,” Gurnee Police Chief Brian Smith said in a statement. “Our roads became safer, and driver behavior improved not just at the camera locations, but throughout the Village.”<\/p>\n

That community-wide caution is known as the “halo effect,” officials said, noting crash rates remain below pre-2009 levels even as traffic has increased.<\/p>\n

However, the program faced challenges in recent years. The village cited inconsistent vendor support, maintenance delays, and the need to turn off cameras during construction, limiting their effectiveness.<\/p>\n

Good to know:<\/p>\n

No new violations have been issued since July 5. Tickets issued for violations before and on that date still must be paid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All camera equipment will be removed by early fall.<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

Police Chief Smith said ending the program does not mean the village is stepping back from traffic safety efforts.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s the beginning of a new chapter,” he said. “We remain committed to doing what\u2019s best for Gurnee and we\u2019ll keep evolving to meet that promise.”<\/p>\n

The Source:<\/b> The information in this article was provided by the Village of Gurnee and Gurnee Police Department.<\/p>\n

Gurnee<\/a>Traffic<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKE COUNTY, Ill. – Gurnee has officially ended its red-light camera program after more than a decade of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,6082,38688,5386,1818,4010,50,314,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-51647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-crime-publicsafety","10":"tag-gurnee","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-lake-county","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-traffic","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114823842398293688","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}