Photo Radar Tickets In IL Construction Zones

I received the following story in an e-mail from a friend:

"A friend of a friend passed this along to me. Take Heed. Drive in IL? Pass this on! Thought I would share my experience with you in the hope of helping you avoid the same fate. I was ticketed by an officer in a van with a digital set up and radar system. In early May traveling 61 MPH in a 45 MPH construction zone on I-88 near Naperville, IL. I received my, "MUST APPEAR," Citation, a close-up photo of me, a close-up photo of my car, and a close-up photo of my license plate, all time/date stamped. My court date was this week. I was probably 1 of 200 or so people in the courtroom (a makeshift courtroom at the Downers-Grove American Legion, in the Bingo Hall). I was asked how I pleaded. I plead guilty and asked the court for supervision. My fine broke down like this; $465.00 fine, $285.00 court costs for a total of $750.00. Court Supervision for me was granted. The Judge actually apologized before proceedings to all present for the high court costs that would be assessed, but stated that Governor Blo Go had raised court costs 3 times last year and once already this year.The state has many of these unmarked vans in operation and moves them around the state. If you are issued a citation there is no way out of it. You may get supervision, most people did. But many of the people tried ahead of me were also cited for driving at a higher speed, driving without their seat belt on, driving with expired plates, following too close, operating an unsafe vehicle, improper lane usage and driving too fast for conditions. Some people were asked to provide proof that they had insurance at the time the citation was issued and if could not, their case was continued. I saw people fined so much money they were crying when they wrote the check. Some people were back in court for the second time because they could not pay when convicted at an earlier date. They asked another continuance. Some were granted it and some were hand cuffed and hauled off - one with his wife and two kids standing in the back of the courtroom crying. Some people brought their attorney, it didn't matter, they wasted their money on that. This is a real money maker; I saw fines as high as $10,000. Heed my warning, this can cost you a lot of money! Bottom line: I should not have been speeding in a construction zone. Neither should you!"

Wow - I had no idea that the court costs were that much! The Illinois State Police (ISP) have about 6 of these vans now if I'm not mistaken. Attached is a picture of one of the vans at the '06 Chicago Auto Show. They're more "unmarked" now - the last one I saw was just a gray van. And people make fun of me for not speeding in construction zones!

I was in some industry meetings when the ISP was rolling this out and the first two years of the program was focused solely on using their lawyers to train judges about the process and make it as airtight as possible. They succeeded - as the story above demonstrates you're not getting out of one of these tickets if you get it. As a safety professional for the road construction industry I do agree that motorists need to slow down in construction zones when conditions warrant. However, this isn't the way to go about it. I could go on and on about this topic, but the point is just to watch out for this so you don't get a huge ticket.
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Well, the higher court costs are needed to pay for the costs of the new vans they purchased to generate more court fees so that they can purchase more equipment which will in turn generate more revenue from court costs...

But in all seriousness, clamping down on construction zone speeding is pretty important.

 

I also seem to recall an article in the tribune in the last few months about this issue which had a slightly different spin in that there are also a number of these being dismissed by judges because the police cannot get the photos/other necessary information to the local authorities in time for trial.

 

The part I don't get about construction zone speeding is, that I obey the speed limit, but nobody else. Are the speed limits always only in place when there are construction workers on sight? Could they enforce these limits even without anybody working?

To birddog: If it is any consolation with the overspeed you were going, you would have lost your drivers license in Europe. Don't ask me why I know...

 

Noticed you were doing 16 MPH over the limit, but my co-worker got stuck with the same HUGE fine and was only doing 8 MPH over (53 MPH in a 45)!! Co-worker also stated at his court date a young teenage girl was crying and had brought her mother with her, but it didn't matter. Leave the lawyer, parent, priest, and rabbi at home, since no slack is cut here. I would strongly recommend driving at exactly the posted speed limit in a construction zone...

 

First of all - the old "When Workers Present" stipulation in IL is gone. The speed limits on black & white regulatory signs are now in effect 24/7. I've heard that the ISP doesn't use the vans unless workers are present, as they "sold" the program to the judges with the stipulation that it was going to be used to slow traffic and protect road workers. However, as 85% of people killed in work zone accidents are the motorists and not the workers, it would be easy for the ISP to justify using these with or without workers present.

And secondly, although it looks like it got lost in the lengthy thread - I DIDN'T GET A TICKET. That was a story that was sent to me and I'm passing it on.

Finally - seriously? You'd lose your license in Europe for going 16 over like the guy in the story did? Wow - that's just the average speeder on any given tollway any day 'round here!

 

I'm working on a presentation for the road construction industry on this topic which includes in-car video of what it looks like to be the guy going 45mph in an IL construction zone. I've already got shots of a couple near hits and I've even been passed by one state trooper and one municipal cop. I too recommend driving the speed limit in construction zones and I do it - but it can be pretty scary sometimes!

 

Out here in the Rockford area, I-90 / i-39 are under construction. The limit is 45mph in the construction zone. There are signs that state that automatic radar enforcement equipment is in place, although I've never seen any. The lane configurations change frequently, and even on the sections that are 3 lanes wide and appear complete, there are sudden shoulder intrusions and lane narrowings. They can can be one configuration in the morning and another in the afternoon. People really shouldn't be driving 80 mph here, but they do. I look at their plates, and most seem to be out-of-staters: Apparently everyone from Tennessee is trying out for NASCAR.

I bet that 15% of the drivers do 45-50 mph. I drive the limit in construction zones. We are being passed by dozens of faster drivers per mile. When I'm driving 45mph, I know I will not catch up to anyone else driving 45, nor would they catch up to me. It can seem lonely out there. Occasionally I will find myself in a cluster of 2-3 cars all doing 45 and it is somewhat a relief. I keep my eyes on the road in front, and at least one on the rear view mirror.

As for cops speeding - I can't recall ever seeing a cop doing the limit. Even on the tollway in moderate traffic, they cruise 5-10 over. For a few years, I drove from Addison to Elgin via the highways every night around midnight. About once or twice a week, in the rearview mirror I would see lights approaching fast (much faster than my 75 mph speed), and guess that it was a cop coming up. I would be right. No emergency lights, no siren, going past exits, seemingly just out going fast (90-100mph easy) with nowhere to go and apparently only 10 minutes to get there. I would never see them pull anyone over or find them at an accident up the road. I know that if I am going to be passed by someone going 50mph faster than me, it's almost always going to be a cop.

In fact, if traffic is kind of congested, I have the best luck getting right behind a cop. Most people will slow down to the limit when a cop is obviously around, or drive even slower just to get away from the cop. In these situations, the fastest car in the area is the cop, and the fastest place to be is right behind them. If the cop's going 5 over, so am I. Now if I see a cop in a construction zone, I don't think I could catch up to him in time without it looking too obvious, and I think I would prefer doing no more than the limit there anyway.

 

How true, I've also noticed that 'Big Brother' doesn't need to abide by the laws us common folk do!

 

Dead serious. 16 mph equates to 25 km/h over. That'll do the trick.

The difference between Europe and the US are not necessarily the speed limits, but the fact that many European countries absolutely enforce them and punish the motorists. There is no such thing as "letting you go with a warning". I love this country. Seriously.

 

What was the time frame from when the picture was taken and when he received the notice?

 

Wish I had more info - sorry - this was just sent to me from a friend and I don't know who the original recipient of the ticket is. However, the ISP web site states that tickets will be sent via certified mail within 14 days of the infraction.

http://www.isp.state.il.us/media/pressdetails.cfm?ID=429

 

On the radio news today, I heard a report saying the State Police had 5 vans that patrol the state. 75% of the offenders detected go un-ticketed because they can't make out the license plate, or the driver, or difficulty in obtaining out-of-state information. The Police want higher resolution cameras to boost the rate of tickets they can send out.

 

What were the people doing that caused them to get even higher fines?

 

It's called 'Impeding the flow of traffic'. They weren't going as fast as the other cars which can cause serious repercussions.

 

If that's the case then wear a halloween mask when you know you'll be driving through one of those areas with a lead foot.

 

I have actually seen one of these vans on 94E, luckily I saw the speed sign and slowed down. It's sort of messed up because most people still go 60 in a 45 (it's Chicago, you take whatever speed you can get when there is no traffic!)

all this crap for them to make more money, safety my ass

edit: this was in the summer during construction at night time...

 

Remove your license plate, call it in stolen, and have them issue you a temporary paper tag that goes in the window. Cameras can't make it out, and you can't get a ticket for having no plates. When you get your replacement plates, don't put them on. Just tell the cops that you are still waiting to receive them, if you get pulled over for no plates.

You can milk it for months.

 

"all this crap for them to make more money, safety my ass"
AZ330im

That's the truth.
Really want people to slow down? Do as Andreas has mentioned is done in Europe.
The last speeding ticket I got was written as a local ordinance violation. Send us the dough and be on your way, no mark on your record. May as well install a vending machine for speeding privileges.
It's about cash plain and simple, I'd love to see the amount of revenue generated.
The copper that cited me last was approaching me from the opposite direction and did his very best Starsky & Hutch turnabout in front of 50 mph traffic to apprehend this lawbreaker.
Safety, phht.

 

As a safety professional for the road construction industry - I must sadly agree with you. I continue to work on a presentation to my industry about why the current approach is ineffective. I'm videotaping work zones whenever I can to show how flawed the current program is - especially here in IL. From what I've seen so far no one but me drives 45 (actually I drive 50 just to correct for any potential speedometer variation, but I still might as well be crawling), and I've almost been rear-ended several times. Further, I've seen several police officers - Cook County being the worst offenders, followed by municipalities, and then actual State Troopers - passing me in a work zone. Sometimes I've got yellow led strobes flashing on the rear deck and the winsdhield - and sometimes not - but I still get blown by irregardless.

And then that brings us to the photo radar vans. I have seen them on I-55, I-80, and on I-294. In each case, they chose the best vantage point for their purpose - getting a long clear shot of offenders. And in each case - it was where there was no barrier wall, no workers, no activity, and nothing at all that would psychologically cause a driver to think they should slow down to be safe. Just today in fact I drove back down from WI on I-90 through an 11 mile long work zone. All lanes were full-width. Both shoulders were fully open. Everything was striped and painted. No barricades were up and traffic was following the normal path. Not one worker or piece of equipment was working or even parked on site. And yes, there was a work zone speed limit of 45mph.

Ok, I'll get off my soap box here, but before I do my point is this. If you ask people to slow down all the time just because some plan somewhere says work might be done there you will never get people to slow down. If you ask people to slow down in those unnecessary cases - they still won't slow down when they should. We're crying wolf about work zones. Tell people to slow down when it is necessary, and enforce the hell out of it. Otherwise, let motorists proceed as normal. People actually want to slow down to protect workers and themselves - but ask people to slow down in every single area that some piece of paper says work might go on - and all you've done is pissed everyone off.

 

The last ticket I got was for speeding. Before that it was for rolling through a stop sign on (making a right turn at a huge open intersection, 4-way stop) in Hebron, IL. The Hebron Cop was in a tizz about it, and couldn't even spell "bicycle" - he had to ask. (There is a check box on the citation that says " [_] Bicycle"). After getting my citation, the cop drove off over the hill. Across the street from us, there was a kid on a tricycle watching us from the gravel shoulder. Moments later the same cop came racing back down the street toward us at perhaps 50mph in the residential area. The terrified tike on the trike got sprayed by flying gravel as the cop edged the gravel shoulder under heavy braking to "stop" before coming to Rt 47. The cop rolled through the stop sign and drove into town. No lights or siren. It cost me $115, but it should have cost the cop his job.

Safety, phht. x2

 

Didn't you know that Hebron only has one cop on its police force? He creates more revenue for the town than property taxes do!

 

Shouldn't your radar detector pick these vans up?? I drive on 94 and 294 all the time and have never seen a van and everyone's going 15 over at least.

 

Yesterday I was on i-90, in the construction zone next to Rockford, doing 45mph, when I came upon and passed a one-man traffic jam. It was a Tollway HELP truck, in the middle lane, doing 35mph. I got past him @45... it was the strangest thing. There must have been 20 trucks and cars following it in the center lane, all doing 35mph. Go figure.


[[[ My earlier post is probably unclear. Somehow I deleted some text about my vehicle. I was riding my bicycle - not driving a car.]]]

 

I have yet to see one.
I routinely travel 94 / 294, especially north of the spur, (construction hell). Never seen a van. Good for me! However, was pulled over at 3:30am by a female state trooper doin' 80 (was 5 seconds to "lauch mode" and kicking it up somewhere north of that!) a few months back. Still in disbelief she LET ME GO! (there are very few suckers out there like her and I who actually work those types of hours!)