Neighbors call for speed camera at 'notoriously' dangerous Norwood Park intersection
CHICAGO (CBS) – Love them or hate them, speed cameras are meant to make drivers slow down.
CBS 2's Sabrina Franza looked into where two new cameras could be installed soon, and broke down why neighbors are asking for them.
"I just feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall," said Lilian Kavanagh, of Norwood Park.
She is begging the city to be proactive.
"We have kids on the school on the corner. We have to walk to school every day with them. It's a terrifying experience," she said.
On March 18, a car drove into her neighbor's home. Months later, it's still boarded up and uninhabitable. Kavanagh's house was also damaged.
"It shouldn't have to take this or someone being hit, a kid being hit on their way to school to have cameras installed," Kavanagh said.
That crash was by no means the first. After it happened, CBS 2 filed a Freedom of Information request asking for the number of accidents at the corner of Harlem and Talcott avenues.
CBS 2 found that between July 4, 2019 and June 20, 2022, there have been 36 car crashes there, only five citations and no arrests.
A CBS 2 crew sat on the corner and monitored speed ourselves.
"The so-called speed limit here is 30 miles per hour. People are traveling here, you can see them traveling at 50, 60, 70, some 100 [mph]," Kavanagh said.
Neighbors want a speed camera because they said it's actually much worse than what CBS 2 recorded and they might be getting one.
Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st) said the intersection is on the Chicago Department of Transportation's list. Along with another camera on Touhy Avenue between Ossiola and Overhill avenues, where in January, retired CPD officer Richard Haljean died in a traffic accident.
"It's kind of almost a sigh of relief, because you're hoping that CDOT will sit up and pay attention to this notoriously dangerous section of road that's been overlooked and ignored for so long," said
While CDOT said it could not give a timeline for the camera installation, sources told CBS 2 neighbors can expect a speed camera at least on Touhy Avenue in the next few months.
