Lake County Gazette

State Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) is hoping to reignite his fight to have red-light cameras banned in non-home rule communities when the legislature resumes for session next month.

“We must end the corrupt red light camera program in Illinois,” McSweeney said. “Red light cameras are designed to raise revenue, not improve safety.”  

McSweeney, who is not on the Nov.3 ballot after electing not to seek re-election in the 52nd District, has long been a vocal critic of the practice. He previously introduced a bill that would ban the devices across the entire state, but the measure was never called for a vote by the full House. That was at least partly due to the suspension of House activities amod the rise of the COVID-19 crisis.

Back in 2019, he filed House Bill 323, which sought to ban all 607 of the state’s red-light cameras.

A recent Illinois Policy Institute study found that municipalities around the state collected upwards of $1 billion in revenue from the cameras over a decade beginning in 2008. Over that time, the cameras have fueled a number of federal corruption scandals, including one instance in which a former Illinois state senator pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe. Former state Sen. Marin Sandoval, a Chicago Democrat who was chairman of the Senate's transportation committee, plead guilty to taking about $250,000 in bribes from a red-light camera company and others. That included $70,000 federal investigators provided to an executive of Chicago-based SafeSpeed, who was a cooperating witness in a sting operation against Sandoval. The company itself has denied any wrongdoing.

“Illinois’ red-light camera program has been exposed for the corrupt money grab it is,” McSweeney added in a post to social media. “It’s time to ban this unethical practice in Illinois.”