If you ever needed to get something important from the government in a timely manner, you know that it can be a headache. Outdated and unhelpful websites, spending what seems like hours on hold, and ambiguous forms make the task daunting. In order to cut through some of the confusion, see below for some helpful guidelines in getting your police report, traffic video, or red light camera stills.
In this Article
Traffic camera footage of an accident or traffic violation can come from a variety of sources including:
The process for requesting traffic camera video varies depending on the type of footage that recorded your car accident or speeding violation.
Think you saw a flash as you creeped up to an intersection? Worried that a red light camera may have gone off? A ticket along with a notice should arrive to the registered owner’s address within five to seven business days. If you think you received a red light ticket in the City of Chicago but cannot wait to see if you got a ticket in the mail, you can also check online. The Chicago Parking and Red Light Administration website allows you to gather some information about the alleged violation. You can search for parking tickets, view photos, view speed videos, view red light videos, and can even contest a ticket.
Once you have a ticket from Chicago’s red light cameras in hand, you can log in at chicagophotociteweb.com to view videos and/or stills of the alleged red light camera violation. You will need your ticket number and license plate number to access this type of footage from red light cameras.
To see photos, video, and speed of the alleged violation captured by speed traffic cameras in Chicago, visit violationinfo.com/Chicago/ and have your ticket number and license plate number handy.
Footage of the constant stream of the intersections with cameras is available for 30 days. Alleged violations caught on a red light camera or speed camera is available for viewing up to two years. However, keep in mind that you only have a set amount of time to contest a ticket.
If you want to get video footage from other sources including business surveillance cameras, home surveillance cameras, or police dash cameras, you may need to enlist the help of an experienced attorney to assist with your accident claim. They will act fast to ensure that any potential footage from traffic cameras is saved and preserved so it can be used as evidence in your favor. These are the steps they will take to get the footage of your auto accident quickly and efficiently:
Identify the type of camera footage that is trying to be obtained.
You can also watch our step by step guide to submitting FOIA requests for access to things like the City of Chicago’s 24-hour streaming video from red-light cameras or video from Chicago police observation device cameras.
If a subpoena is required before any video footage for the incident is released, then you should contact an experienced personal injury attorney to help. If you were involved in an accident and believe there is video footage, call The Kryder Law Group for a free consultation. Our personal injury attorneys are ready to answer your questions about obtaining footage from traffic cameras that are relevant to your case.
The first document created following a motor vehicle accident of any sort is a police report. The police report is a document written by the police officer investigating the accident. The purpose of the report is to memorialize all relevant details concerning the accident. This may include the names of all drivers involved, addresses, and contact information of all drivers and witnesses. The police report also details points of contact on the vehicles, weather conditions, and whether any tickets were issued.
Having a copy of the police report is essential to your accident claim and is needed to:
Before starting the process of getting a police report, you need to make sure you have:
Alternatively, if you have an RD number, you can provide that to responsible agency.
Generally, it takes a few business days before the police report is officially completed and is available to the public. Trying to obtain a police report before it is in the system will lead to frustrating dead ends.
Each agency will handle requests differently. For accidents investigated by the Chicago Police Department, you can get police reports two ways (if you are looking for a police report for a car accident, traffic crash reports are also available online):
It is .50 cents for each copy of the case report, $5.00 for each copy of the traffic crash report, and $20.00 for a report that is generated by an accident reconstruction officer or their team.