garmon757 Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 There has been a spike of red light infractions by CTA drivers since 2012. Back then, CTA requires drivers to pay the tickets for running the red light. Now, CTA pays all the tickets. However, drivers now receive a three days of unpaid suspension for the first offense and termination for the second offense unless something happen under the circumstances. Is CTA managing this situation well or not? Courtesy by NBC 5 News: http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Data-Reveals-Intersections-With-Most-CTA-Red-Light-Violations-245970421.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 There has been a spike of red light infractions by CTA drivers since 2012. Back then, CTA requires drivers to pay the tickets for running the red light. Now, CTA pays all the tickets. However, drivers now receive a three days of unpaid suspension for the first offense and termination for the second offense unless something happen under the circumstances. Is CTA managing this situation well or not? Courtesy by NBC 5 News: http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Data-Reveals-Intersections-With-Most-CTA-Red-Light-Violations-245970421.html As the story indicated, that has gone back about 6 years (when Fox Chicago had a story about CTA drivers blowing through red lights on State St. downtown), and IIRC, some drivers were posting that they thought they were exempt from the traffic laws. IMO: If it were really a safety issue rather than the city trying to extract money from a related government entity, it should post police on the corners and ticket or arrest the drivers. Based on those statistics, it shouldn't be that hard to post a cop at Sheridan and Belmont or Garfield and the Dan Ryan (LaSalle). When this first came out that CTA was paying the fines, it appeared that the drivers were getting off, but if they are getting 3 day suspensions, that's costing them a lot more than the $50 or $100 ticket. There is a grievance procedure if they think that's unfair. Just wait for the fun when they start blowing by the speed trap cameras. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garmon757 Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 As the story indicated, that has gone back about 6 years (when Fox Chicago had a story about CTA drivers blowing through red lights on State St. downtown), and IIRC, some drivers were posting that they thought they were exempt from the traffic laws. IMO: If it were really a safety issue rather than the city trying to extract money from a related government entity, it should post police on the corners and ticket or arrest the drivers. Based on those statistics, it shouldn't be that hard to post a cop at Sheridan and Belmont or Garfield and the Dan Ryan (LaSalle). When this first came out that CTA was paying the fines, it appeared that the drivers were getting off, but if they are getting 3 day suspensions, that's costing them a lot more than the $50 or $100 ticket. There is a grievance procedure if they think that's unfair. Just wait for the fun when they start blowing by the speed trap cameras. This city is like a cash cow to begin with. It's seems like CTA fears losing money no matter what the repercussions are. I disapprove the speed trap cameras. Hell, might as well say that this city is the trap! Do you seriously think that the police got time for that? It's just going to be a slap in the wrist if that was the scenario. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owine Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 The story on NBC last night stated that the reason CTA foots the bill is state law requiring the vehicle owner to pay the fine. Before that law, the drivers used to pay according to the NBC story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 The story on NBC last night stated that the reason CTA foots the bill is state law requiring the vehicle owner to pay the fine. Before that law, the drivers used to pay according to the NBC story. Not directly. The city always billed CTA, but CTA used to take the fine out of the driver's paycheck, and of course used the fleet number and time to finger the driver. Again, the news stories at the time showed the CTA records. The drivers complained, but apparently the punishment they now suffer is much worse. Same thing as if the camera captures your license plate, you get the bill. The city doesn't know that your nephew was driving the car, and you have to get him to reimburse you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 Sun-Times has this story again. Actually, it doesn't seem to be so many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 5, 2017 Report Share Posted March 5, 2017 On 3/3/2017 at 11:15 AM, Busjack said: Sun-Times has this story again. Actually, it doesn't seem to be so many. It's interesting that most of the citations were from the Belmont and Sheridan intersection. The article pointed out some points CTA made that immediately came to mind when reading that that was the intersection for so many of the citations. the fact that so many artics passed through that intersection due to the 134, 135, 146, 151, and 156 made me wonder if the cameras were clicking buses that either got in heavy traffic after beginning legal traffic maneuvers before the light turned red, such as starting a turn or the bus in general not making through the intersection in time in general because of its size. CTA apparently made those same points in successful appeals according to the article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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