Here's how it would work: run a red light, get a ticket, pay the ticket, go to mandatory traffic school, pay more money, learn a lesson and never do it again.
At least that's the theory of Alderman Ed Burke's to make drivers who blow through red light camera zones attend a mandatory class. Will they be learning colors? Red, yellow, green?
The class would cost the drivers $25 on top of the $100 fine offenders pay.
"The focus shouldn't be on the fee as much as on the educational benefit this could create," Burke told the Sun-Times.
Actually, it is about the money for those paying it. And even Burke can't deny the revenue will help offset a $300 million budget gap that's expected by the end of the year.
Last year, Chicago raked in nearly $45 million in revenue, and newly installed red light cameras are expected to boost that figure for 2009.
