Darien Speeding Complaints Usually Unfounded: City

DARIEN, IL – Like most towns, Darien gets complaints about speeding on particular streets.

Such claims trigger investigations, three-fourths of which find that complaints are unfounded, according to the city.

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Now, the city is considering subscribing to a system that would save time and money in identifying problems.

Florida-based Urban SDK's system is based on "anonymized" vehicle GPS data and satellite imagery, according to the firm's website.

The system constantly tracks a town's streets, providing instantaneous information.

Now, when residents complain about speeding on a specific street, the city spends a lot of time and money setting up tracking equipment and extracting data, officials said. And the typical result is finding that no problem exists.

At Monday's City Council meeting, Deputy Police Chief Austin Jump said the technology would greatly help the city.

"When someone says, 'I have a speeding problem on my street,' we can get the numbers on that," Jump said. "It could be a perception issue based on the size of the road, size of vehicles, time of day. It could also be that there is truly a problem that we need to address."

He continued, "It could also just be one or two individuals that are the problem, and we need to address it."

Nearby towns using Urban SDK include Hinsdale, Bolingbrook and Lombard, he said. It is expected to cost Darien $24,000 a year.

City officials expressed support.

"The manhours we're going to save are just unreal over the long-term," Alderman Ted Schauer said.

Added City Administrator Bryon Vana, "This is a small amount of money for something that is tremendous."

The City Council is expected to vote on the system at its next meeting, which is July 20.