Chicago’s speed cameras issued $90.9M in tickets in 2024, low-income drivers hit hardest 
The city’s 165 cameras collected $11.3M less from drivers in 2024, so Mayor Johnson is adding 50 new cameras expecting to get back that money

CHICAGO (June 10, 2025) – On the campaign trail, Brandon Johnson pledged to phase out Chicago’s automated speed cameras. As mayor, he’s adding 50 new speed cameras to boost the fine total, with 27 of them starting to ticket during June.

Chicago drivers were sent $90.9 million in fines on 1.8 million speed camera tickets in 2024, according to a new analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute. That was $11.3 million less than the year before, but Johnson’s budget includes an additional $11.4 million he’s expecting from the 50 new cameras.

Overall, lower-income and minority families carried the burden from speed camera fines in 2024. Chicago’s Southeast Side was hit hardest, averaging over 19,000 tickets and $646,000 in fines per camera.

While the city claims the cameras are about improving safety, the evidence is mixed. Research from the University of Illinois-Chicago found “little relationship between the number of tickets issued and the safety impact of cameras.”

Ald. Anthony Beale said it is clear the cameras are about money.

“Mayor Johnson’s decision to add 50 new speed cameras is an obvious revenue grab. Chicago’s speed cameras have increasingly become about making the city money and not making the city safer,” Beale said.

Beale’s 9th Ward includes the city’s No. 2 camera from 2024: $2.1 million in fines. The No. 1 camera is also nearby on the South Side and topped $3 million.

“The ticketing process preys on residents struggling to pay their speed camera bill through additional fines and fees. Now, money earned from late fees accounts for most of the ticket money,” Beale said. “It’s a broken system. Instead of pushing for more and more cameras, the city council should undo the actions taken under the Lightfoot administration and restore the ticketing threshold to 10 miles per hour above the limit – which would still ensure severe offenders are punished.”

Adding 50 cameras to make up for lost revenue, especially when they most hurt low-income Chicagoans, is not what Johnson pledged to voters.

“Speed camera annual revenue has been declining every year since former-Mayor Lightfoot changed the ticketing threshold. So, Chicago leaders are shifting the goalpost once again to make up for lost revenue,” said Patrick Andriesen, writer for the Illinois Policy Institute. “Speed cameras and other sin tax revenues disproportionately harm low-income residents and are unstable revenue sources, as the fine drop in 2024 shows. Relying on Chicagoans to do the wrong thing to balance a budget is a bad idea and places city finances on a rocky foundation.”

Chicago’s speed cameras rake in money from drivers:

• There were 15 speed camera locations that each brought in over $1 million for the city.
• The No. 1 camera generated more than $3 million in fines. It was at 10540 S. Western Ave. in the Beverly community.
• On June 1, 16 new speed cameras started issuing tickets. Another seven start ticketing June 15 and another four by June 30, meaning 27 of the 50 planned cameras will be hitting drivers this month.
• $54.2 million, or more than half of the revenue, came from extra late fees and penalties on tickets that more than doubled the fines.

To read more about Chicago’s speed cameras, visit illin.is/speedcams2024.

For interviews or interviews, contact media@illinoispolicy.org or (312) 607-4977.