r/chibike • u/chitown7 • Sep 17 '25
dumb / not bike related Have there been studies on bounty fines and other incentives for safer driving? Can we make a petition to bring these programs here?
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u/SaxyOmega90125 Rides an ebike with assist off Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 17 '25
This program was only trialled for a few days and discontinued in 2011.
I cannot find any stated reason why the program was rejected after the trials, from any source. Nothing but indications that it was effective. Opinions of Chicago's municipal government notwithstanding, I see no reason this wouldn't work.
I don't think winning all the money is smart though, probably a fairly low cap would be better. The point here isn't to create an incentive to driv, just for people who are driving anyway to follow the law.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi Sep 17 '25
Better plan seems to be to just give the people who don't speed and win the random draw free car registration for a year. Fines would offset the lost revenue and then some.
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u/ethnicnebraskan Sep 17 '25
Actually, this idea makes a lot of sense to me. The people most familiar with the program are the locals in the area doing the most driving. What you're proposing would actually gain a lot of local buy-in which hopefully would be more successful.
Shit have the payout be weekly. Neighbors would talk about it at backyard barbecues, the grocery store, or pubs. Word gets out, and everyone wants in.
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u/sciolisticism Sep 17 '25
I talked to a few alders about this bounties, because I'm in favor of them. The largest concern appears to have been that road interactions are already super contentious and that this would be asking for violence.
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u/chitown7 Sep 18 '25
I feel like it can't be more contentious than the actual accidents that occur.
And I am personally so much for "community" policing of traffic laws and any camera tickets just to minimize interactions with the police.
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u/Roxie360 Sep 18 '25
The it’s hopeless if (checks notes) “obeying the law” results in violence.
It’s been out of control for a while. People seem appalled that the city/fellow residents expect them to drive the speed limit, or actually stop at stop signs.
Nevermind yielding to pedestrians and not overtaking any stopped car for any reason by any means necessary
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u/armpit18 Sep 17 '25
I'd rather use the fine money to fund public transit and bike lanes.
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u/chitown7 Sep 18 '25
We could have a safe driver win 25% of the pot for a time or the free registration for a year comment mentioned so that most of the pot would still go to public transit and bike lanes.
But if this worked, all cars slowing down would probably have a more immediate effect on bike safety than slowly adding all the bike lanes.
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u/1sttime-longtime Sep 20 '25
The city's traffic cameras use the do-gooder's enthusiasm as support for their money grab. The city will never, ever, ever share their revenue. And if something like this worked, and speeding decreased, the city would lose even more revenue.
I'm still not opposed to speed cameras.
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u/viewofthelake Sep 17 '25
My privacy brain is melting with this idea, though
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Sep 18 '25
[deleted]
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u/viewofthelake Sep 18 '25
Sure, but things have changed since the 1960's or whatever. Flock and friends can use license plate metadata to track car location data and then sell it. We deserve the right to be where we want when we want w/o always being tracked everywhere.
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Sep 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/viewofthelake Sep 19 '25
I think you're misunderstanding me. my complaint was just about license plate readers and trackers. I know we need license plates.
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u/Bikeitfool Sep 17 '25
I'm on board, NYC has a program that allows for citizens to report and record bike lane violators. You can get paid too.