Chicago speed cameras run near schools on school days from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and near parks while the park is open, normally 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. The city calls these areas Children's Safety Zones, and each one reaches 660 feet from a park or school. The city's own data listed 209 camera locations in October 2026.
| Zone | Days | Hours | Speed limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| School, within 660 feet | Monday to Friday, school days only | 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | 20 mph when children are present, the posted limit otherwise |
| Park, within 660 feet | Every day | While the park is open, normally 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. | The posted limit |
Where are the speed cameras in Chicago?
Chicago speed cameras are located in safety zones around parks and schools, within 660 feet, or one-eighth of a mile. State law sets that distance, and it applies only to municipalities with 1,000,000 or more people, which makes this a Chicago program.
You will find them all over the city, on busy streets as well as neighborhood ones. The cameras that came online in 2025 show how wide the spread is:
- North and Northwest Sides: near Green Briar Park on West Peterson Avenue, Edgebrook Park on North Central Avenue, and Lincoln Park on North LaSalle Drive.
- South Side: near Hirsch Metropolitan High School on South Cottage Grove Avenue, Tilden High School on West 47th Street, and Cole Park on South Martin Luther King Drive.
- West Side: North Cicero Avenue and West Fullerton Avenue both appear among the most recent additions to the city's list.
Where can I see a map of Chicago speed cameras?
The City of Chicago Data Portal publishes a Speed Camera Locations dataset with each address, the direction of travel it monitors and the date it first went live. It is the most useful single list, and its latest update is dated October 9, 2026.
What hours do Chicago speed cameras work?
Chicago speed cameras follow two different schedules, one for schools and one for parks. Which one applies depends on the zone you are in, and the sign at the zone tells you.
What are the hours for school zone cameras in Chicago?
School zone cameras run Monday through Friday on school days, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. From 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., the limit is 20 mph when children are present in the safety zone. Outside that window, until 7 p.m., the posted limit applies.
What are the hours for park zone cameras in Chicago?
Park zone cameras run whenever the park is open, normally from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Individual park hours can differ, so the sign is the final word.
Do Chicago speed cameras work on weekends?
Park zone cameras do work on weekends, and school zone cameras do not. A street that sits next to both a school and a park can therefore be active on a Saturday morning, even with the school closed.
Do Chicago speed cameras work in summer?
School zone cameras are tied to school days, so they stop on days without classes. Park zone cameras keep running while the parks are open. Our guide to school zone speed cameras in the US shows how this compares with other cities.
Why do Chicago park zones matter so much?
A park zone is active on far more days in a year than a school zone, simply because it runs all week. One new camera at 3358 South Ashland Avenue, near a daycare, issued 21,180 tickets after going live on June 15, 2025, according to ABC7. A number like that shows how easy it is to carry your normal speed into one of these blocks.
What is the speed limit in Chicago?
Chicago streets are normally posted at 30 mph, and the number drops to 20 mph near schools on school days when children are present. The city's speed camera guidance describes the posted limit as normally 30 mph.
A few details are easy to miss:
- "Children present" matters. The 20 mph sign applies on school days when children are in the zone, so read the wording below the number.
- Some streets are posted lower. Plain 20 mph signs exist on Chicago streets too, so the sign in front of you counts more than the citywide habit.
- The park limit is the posted limit. Near a park, nothing special is added to the number, but the camera hours are longer.
What is the speed limit on Illinois highways around Chicago?
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety lists 70 mph on rural Illinois interstates, 55 mph on urban interstates, 65 mph on other limited-access roads and 55 mph on other roads. Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties are among eight that can opt out of the 70 mph limit by ordinance, so expect lower numbers as you approach the city. Our guide to interstate speed limits by state has the national picture.
How do you know a Chicago speed camera is ahead?
You know from the signs, which show the posted limit, the type of safety zone and the camera's hours. In practice that means a speed limit sign with a "School" or "Park" heading and smaller text underneath the number.
The city also gives drivers time to adjust when a camera is new. A new camera issues warnings only for at least its first 30 days. In 2025, for example, seven cameras began warnings on May 1 and moved to enforcement on June 15.
If you drive the same route every day, it pays to look again from time to time, because the list keeps growing. A few habits make these zones easy:
- Read the heading. "School" and "Park" signs have different hours, so the heading tells you which clock applies.
- Read the small print. The line under the number tells you when the lower limit counts.
- Slow down early. Reaching the zone at the right speed is smoother than braking at the sign.
How many speed cameras does Chicago have?
Chicago's data portal listed 209 speed camera locations in its October 9, 2026, update. That number has climbed quickly since 2023.
The dataset shows how the program grew, by the year each location went live:
- 117 locations went live in 2013 and 2014, the first wave of the program.
- 20 went live in 2023.
- 48 went live in 2025, the biggest year since 2014.
- 2 more have gone live so far in 2026, in February and September.
In March 2025, the city had 162 cameras and planned to add 50 for a total of 212. By June 2025, 186 cameras were in operation, according to an ABC7 analysis of city data.
How do Chicago speed cameras work?
Chicago speed cameras use radar to measure a vehicle's speed and a camera to record it. City guidance describes 3D tracking radar working with a high-resolution digital camera and a video camera.
A camera only starts recording when radar reads a vehicle above the programmed speed. It then takes one image of the vehicle and a second that shows distance and time traveled, along with a close-up of the license plate and a short video clip. The notice goes to the registered owner of the vehicle.
The Chicago Department of Transportation says it picks new sites through a data-driven process that uses crash data and stakeholder feedback. Local concerns play a part. When a camera went in near Loyola Park on Sheridan Road in 2025, Alderman Maria Hadden described frequent crashes and resident complaints along that street.
The 16 cameras announced in March 2025 show the pattern. They went up near places like Lake View High School, Chase Park, Winnemac Park, Broadway Armory Park and Palmisano Park, the kinds of spots where children walk, ride bikes and cross the street.
Are there speed cameras in Illinois outside Chicago?
Speed cameras outside Chicago are limited to highway work zones, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Its table lists two kinds of camera zone in Illinois: construction or maintenance speed zones, and safety zones in municipalities of 1,000,000 or more.
In a work zone, citations apply only when workers are present. So a long drive on the Illinois Tollway or across the state runs under a different set of rules from a trip down Western Avenue. For the national list, see which states have speed cameras.
What do Chicago's speed cameras mean for your next drive?
For your next drive, think of parks and schools as your cue to slow down, whatever the time. These zones exist because children and families are on foot there. Keeping to the posted limit through those blocks is an easy habit that protects everyone, you included.
Ghost helps you keep that habit without staring at signs. It runs next to Google Maps and warns you safely from the background with a banner and a tone over your music, about 700 meters (roughly 0.4 mile) ahead of a known fixed speed camera and again at 250 meters, and as you get closer it shows the exact distance clearly. It works on CarPlay, Android Auto and Apple Watch and covers more than 125,000 speed cameras worldwide. Ghost does not warn about police checks and does not detect radar, so the signs and the limit still come first, and you can drive through the city relaxed and fully aware of what is coming.
