Lori Lightfoot’s official SUVs rack up traffic tickets

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s official SUVs have been repeatedly caught running red lights and speeding, racking up multiple traffic tickets in the process — despite the mayor’s staunch support for tougher speed camera rules, according to a bombshell new report.

Two of the SUVs in the mayor’s fleet have been ticketed three times for speed camera violations, and also were issued two warnings in the past month alone, CWB Chicago reported. As of last Friday, the tickets have gone unpaid.

One of the vehicles in Lightfoot’s motorcade was also ticketed for running a red light, and two SUVs that were previously used to transport the mayor’s security detail have unpaid speed and red light tickets.

According to CWB Chicago, none of the fines that have been accumulated by Lightfoot’s SUVs since May 2021, totaling $658, has been paid.

One of the SUVs in the mayor’s fleet could even be seized for failing to pay a $244 ticket for running a red light in Oct. 2021.

These revelations come as Lightfoot has been pushing for stricter red light camera rules in Chicago under the banner of public safety.

Lightfoot responded on Tuesday to the report about her motorcade’s traffic violations to defend her administration’s failure to pay the tickets.

“Members of the Mayor’s Detail are trained in a variety of safety and security techniques to keep the Mayor safe and that includes both vehicles staying in formation while en route,” a statement from the mayor’s office said. “The Mayor has repeatedly stressed to the Detail traffic safety and that running red lights is never acceptable.”

The statement went on to say that all citations incurred by official city vehicles go through a review process before the Department of Finance, which determines whether the party is responsible for paying the ticket, and that the payment is not collected until “that process is concluded.”

Lightfoot’s office added that individual members of the security detail are responsible for paying the tickets issued while they are driving.

Two of the speeding incidents cited in CWB Chicago’s report were committed by the mayor’s official vehicles in school zones, and the citations stated that children were present at the time.

Last July, one of the motorcade vehicles sped past Orr Academy High School, where school children were present, doing 43 mph.

In Feb. 2020, another one of Lightfoot’s city vehicles was caught driving at a speed of 39 mph next to Jones College Prep, also with “school child present.” A warning was issued for that violation.

Lightfoot, who took office in 2019, has been pushing to lower the so-called “buffer zone” threshold that speed cameras allow before issuing a citation from 10 mph down to 6 mph.

In a speech last month, Lightfoot argued that keeping the threshold at 6 mph was necessary to make roads safer.

“No one likes speed cameras. I get it,” Lightfoot said at the time. “But this is life or death that we’re talking about here, and we’ve got to step up as a city and address this.”

Last week, Lightfoot highlighted the importance of keeping the tougher rules in place near areas used by children, saying: “It makes no sense for us to increase the speed around the parks and schools when we know what the horrific consequences are for pedestrians and other drivers.”

The City Council voted last week to reject a measure that would have increased the speed threshold, which Lightfoot had opposed.

Since the red light cameras’ threshold was lowered to 6 mph last year, the City of Chicago has issued 3.8 million tickets to the tune of nearly $80 million, according to the Illinois Policy Institute, according to Fox News.

On Tuesday, Lightfoot’s political rivals wasted no time calling her out for practicing a double standard.

“Yet another Lightfoot hypocrisy,” Alderman Raymond Lopez, who is running to unseat Lightfoot in the next elections, told CWB. “Saying motorists need to slow down while her taxpayer-funded motorcade continues to rack up speed and red-light tickets.”

Another mayoral hopeful Paul Vallas raged on Twitter on Tuesday: “@chicagosmayor sets rules but doesn’t follow herself, like issuing mask mandate while partying maskless in crowds, having a security team while CPD beats are short officers or lowering speed cam mileage while racking up speed & red-light tickets that go UNPAID.”

Willie Wilson, who is also running for mayor, told the Chicago Tribune of Lightfoot: “People have lost faith in her. She’s got one set of rules for the elite and another one for the citizens. That should not be.”

Aldermand Anthony Beale, who argued for the higher speed threshold in the City Council, insisted that the string of traffic violations and unpaid tickets that have been racked up by Lightfoot goes to show that it’s not about public safety.

“This is do as I say, not as I do. … It’s totally hypocritical that we’re asking the taxpayers to pay to balance the budget, but she can’t even pay her fair share to balance the budget,” Beale said.