ON CHICAGO AREA EXPRESSWAYS, Speeding Tickets Decline - But Watch Out for Photo Enforcement in Construction Zones!
45 MPH CONSTRUCTION ZONE SPEED LIMIT IN EFFECT 24/7 - REGARDLESS OF WHETHER WORKERS PRESENT!
It's after midnight. Traffic on the Illinois Tollway is light, and you're traveling at the posted 55 MPH Speed Limit. There is a construction zone ahead, with a reduced speed limit of 45 miles per hour.
You better obey it - or an Illinois State Police Photo Enforcement Van could snap your picture, and send the registered owner of your vehicle an automatic $375 fine!
Not your first speeding offense in a construction zone? Expect to pay more!
Illinois law is clear - the lowered construction speed limit is round the clock! In most cases, lane configuration is changed, and possibly narrowed, in construction areas, or heavy equipment is parked nearby, suggesting the speed reduction.
Last May, Illinois State Troopers issued 502 speeding tickets in work zones on the Illinois Tollway System. Of those, 269 were taken by Photo Enforcement Vans, according to Illinois State Police Sargent Jim Jenkner.
In general, however, the number of speeding tickets so far this year has actually fallen 34% around Chicago-area expressways, excluding the tollways. Fewer police are on speed enforcement details this year, hence the enforcement drop off.
Between March and May, 2008 - the traditional beginning of the road construction season around Chicago (although, often times, it seems construction never ends on our roads), Illinois State Police wrote 3,275 speeding tickets in their Chicago Enforcement Area, down from 4,938 during the same period in 2007. Last year, additional police patrolled the under-construction Dan Ryan and Kingery Expressways on the South Side of Chicago.
On which Chicago area expressway are the greatest number of speeding tickets issued? The Edens Expressway, heading north from Wilson Avenue to Lake Cook Road on the North Side of Chicago, through the Northern Suburbs, heads the list, along with the Dan Ryan and the Bishop Ford Expressways to the south. A total of 935 speeders got cited on these roads so far in 2008.
A total of 472 Speeding Citations were issued on the Eisenhower Expressway, heading west from Downtown Chicago and The Loop. 358 speeding tickets were written on IL 53, through the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, and 341 on the Stevenson Expressway (I-55), going Southwest from the city. On the Kennedy Expressway, heading Northwest to O'Hare Airport, 268 speeding violations were written by police so far this year.
On a related note regarding speeding enforcement - those high radar towers on various parts of the Illinois Tollway System are NOT used for speed enforcement against those having an I-PASS Tollway Transponder System for automatic debit of tolls. Instead, this sophisticated equipment is used to monitor traffic volume, and estimate travel times, at different points on the tollway system, according to Illinois Toll Authority System spokesperson Joelle McGinnis.
See Jon Hilkevitch's "Getting Around" column in last Sunday's Chicago Tribune for more info.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
