Kickback and Relax

If February had 31 days then opponents of Red Light Cameras would still be having a red letter day this month. On Feb 21 the Chicago Tribune exposed a secret kickback deal behind the City of Chicago's red light camera concession:

Ex-Redflex manager tells of secret meeting before firm got city business

And on Feb 17 a red-light camera vendor spoke at a Waukegan City Council committee meeting, where K-bombs -- kickback -- were dropped into the public record. The vendor was stressing the safety benefits of the cameras, when, according to the News-Sun ...

Mike Lebert from RedSpeed Illinois — the Lombard-based operator of Waukegan's four camera-equipped intersections — said he believes local drivers have adapted into a safer driving mode with the equipment in place. "It's very similar, in my opinion, to when we decided that we were going to make seat belts mandatory in Illinois," Lebert said. "We had significant kickback on that, (but) it did change driver behavior. We went from 50 percent of people wearing their seat belts to 98 percent. I liken the two in much the same way, in the kickback from the tickets being better enforced," he added.
Deadline for city to renew red-light camera contract nears

Your LakeCountyEye observes that committee members declined to probe further into the nature of the aforementioned kickbacks.  Nuff said!