Dec. 30--Chicago transportation officials say the city's speed camera system is changing driver behavior, noting that nearly 700,000 citations were issued to vehicles that have yet to trigger a second ticket.
But records show there still are tens of thousands of chronic offenders.
The city's database of tickets shows that 66,233 vehicles have clocked more than five tickets each since the program began in October 2013. One car registered to a 24-year-old Chicago woman has racked up 89 speed camera tickets, the most of any person on record.
According to records, Andreana Stevens owes the city more than $30,000 in speeding fines and late fees.
"I am not going to try to tell you that I am not responsible, because I am," Stevens said during a recent interview at her South Side home. "Now I don't know what to do. I don't have that kind of money."
In July 2014, state police stopped Stevens in Henry County for driving 88 mph in a 70 mph zone, records say. She was charged with aggravated driving under the influence of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving on a suspended driver's license, having no valid insurance and failure to use a child-restraint device.
Stevens pleaded not guilty, and her trial is set for April.
She said she is inquiring with her criminal attorney about starting a payment plan with the city of Chicago. "I might have to file for bankruptcy just to get out from under it all," said Stevens, a single mother who said she is working at a Portillo's restaurant.
Stevens acknowledged she was driving the car when many of the speeding tickets were issued.
"But I have a big family and that's a community car," she said. "Everyone in my family uses that car, so to be honest I don't know who was driving for a lot of them."
Almost all of the tickets issued to Stevens were for violations in park zones within a mile or 2 of her Chicago home, records show.
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