Could artificial intelligence make drivers safer or just profile Black drivers more often?
BlackTechLogy: From 2003 until now, have Chicago streets gotten safer with technology lurking near intersections and DuSable Lake Shore Drive?
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“S-t-o-p does not spell p-a-r-k,” my grandfather said in a snippy tone as we walked toward his garage.
I looked over at him curiously. How was he already criticizing my driving (while constantly volunteering me to drive) before I was even behind the steering wheel?
This time, he wasn’t talking about me though. He was complaining about a ticket he’d gotten from one of those red light video cameras that started popping up in Chicago. In 2003, there were only about 10 cameras. By the time Rahm Emanuel became the mayor, the red light cameras shot up to 190 intersections in 2011.
In 2013, more than 622,000 drivers had been ticketed, with fines totaling more than $71 million. The irony? Although Emanuel defended the public safety perks of having these cameras, his own motorcade caused 17 red light tickets in 2.5 years. He did end up paying for those tickets — two of them after reporters questioned him about why his motorcade wouldn’t stop at the red lights like most people.
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At the time I was hearing all of these complaints about red light camera tickets, my initial thought was, “If it results in people not flying through red lights and makes the streets safer, I support them.”
But then another relative complained. We got to a light this time, and he treated it like he was a student driver who’d just learned how to use a simulator. He complained about those camera tickets too. In both cases, they defended their prior stops that got them ticketed. But the camera apparently caught them not stopping far enough behind the line or timing the stop. And I was noticing that every time I was on the South Side (I’d moved to the North Side by then), more of these cameras were popping up. So, is this really about safe driving or getting money out of drivers in Black neighborhoods?
Watching this ticketing debate is why I’m raising an eyebrow at recent news that Chicago has installed artificial intelligence (AI) speed cameras on DuSable Lake Shore Drive. And unlike a police officer who just so happens to see someone speeding as he’s parked nearby, red light cameras and AI speed cameras have all the time in the world. They’re basically virtual tattletales, just loitering around Chicago and waiting to be the paranoid driving instructor. But if accidents and speeding are happening and AI cameras are making drivers more careful, what’s the harm?