City wants to use cameras to nail motorists who block bus or bike lanes, loading zones

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is backing a proposal to use bus cameras and video surveillance to ticket drivers for bus lane, bike lane or loading zone violations. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file)

Chicago motorists who block bus lanes, bike lanes. crosswalks or loading zones might soon get nailed by surveillance cameras installed on CTA buses, “city vehicles,” light poles and other property pinpointed by City Hall.

Nearly 20 years after a CTA experiment with bus surveillance cameras failed miserably, Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to try it again and then some in a designated downtown area that has the “highest concentration of serious crashes, traffic congestion, public transit service, pedestrian and commercial activity in Chicago.”