WARNING SHOT! Please Read!

[slow_motion]

I thought this might make for some good reading. Illinois will begin using photo radar in freeway work zones in July. Second offense tickets are $1,000 with license suspension. Beginning in July the State of Illinois will use speed cameras in areas designated as "Work Zones" on major freeways. Anyone caught by these devices will be mailed a $375.00 ticket for the FIRST offense, but the SECOND offense will cost $1000.00 and comes with a 90-Day suspension. Drivers will also receive demerit points against their license, which allows insurance companies to raise their rates. This represents the harshest penalty structure yet for a city or state using PHOTO enforcements. The State will begin with TWO camera vans issuing tickets in work zones with speed limits lowered to 45 MPH. Photographs of both the Driver's face and License plate are taken. Though I'm sure none of the WCCC members would speed on the expressway, here goes anyway.

IDOT, Tollway and State Police Warn Drivers to Prepare for
Highway Construction Season
New tools this year include increased fines, loss of license and photo enforcement


CHICAGO—The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) joined with the State Police and Illinois Tollway to remind motorists construction season is about to kick in to gear and warn that tough new laws are on the books that target drivers who flout work zone speed limits and endanger the lives of construction workers and other drivers.

“Next week is Work Zone Safety Week and the traditional beginning to highway construction season. We want to send a message to motorists now to slow down in work zones,” IDOT Secretary Timothy W. Martin said. “If you are caught speeding in a work zone, at minimum you will be looking at a fine of $375, at worst, you can kill yourself, a loved one or a worker.”

Under enhanced penalties passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich last year, first-time work zone speeders, including those caught on camera, will be hit with a fine of $375, with $125 of that sum going to pay off-duty State Troopers to provide added enforcement in construction or maintenance zones. Two-time offenders are subject to a $1,000 fine, including a $250 surcharge to hire Troopers, and the loss of their license for 90 days.

Starting in July, State Troopers will deploy specially equipped vans that can take photographs of drivers speeding in IDOT and Tollway construction and maintenance zones. Tickets will be issued by mail to vehicle owners.

In addition, drivers who hit a worker are subject for up to a $10,000 fine and 14 years in prison.

"Preventing the accidents and injuries caused by crashes occurring in work zones is a significant responsibility for the Illinois State Police," said ISP Director Larry Trent. “We must protect these workers who ultimately make all of us safer by improving our roadways. Troopers assigned to work zone details will take a zero tolerance approach when issuing citations to speed limit violators. The message is clear -- Slow down; we're serious about workzone safety."

Gov. Blagojevich has set of goal of reducing traffic deaths to fewer than 1,000 a year by 2008. The work zone speeding crackdown is just one of the ways state transportation and law enforcement are working together to accomplish that goal.

According to provisional data from 2004, 39 people were killed in work zones last year, with two of them being workers. In 2003, 44 people were killed in work zones, with 5 being workers.

“Since the Tollway just launched our $5.3 billion Congestion Relief Plan, drivers will see more work zones on the Tollway than they have in the past. We’re doing our part to ensure construction areas are well marked and that drivers are well informed as they travel through our construction areas,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Jack Hartman. “But impatience, speeding and driver inattention are the leading factors in work zone crashes, so we need drivers to slow down and stay alert in work zones for their safety as well as our workers.”

Under the provisions of the Automated Traffic Control Systems in Highway Construction or Maintenance Zones Act of 2004, Illinois State Police were given the authority to use cameras to enforce work zone speed limits in cases where workers are present. It also requires that signs be posted when work zone speed limits are being enforced by camera.

Photo enforcement vans will be equipped with cameras designed to record a clear image of the vehicle and driver, it’s speed, and registration plate. The registered owner will not be liable if someone else is driving the vehicle.

Photo speed enforcement will be taking place at various construction zones around the state, including on the Dan Ryan and Kingery projects and Tollway projects in the Chicago area as well as various downstate projects.

IDOT and Tollway officials stressed the importance of complying with work zone speed limits even when workers are not present because of the dangers posed by features such as narrow lanes, lane jogs, reduced shoulder width, obstructions and drop-offs.

IDOT and Tollway staffers will be conducting an outreach effort directed at members of the driving public on Friday, April 1, at highway rest stops and Tollway oases around the state.

The increased work zone speeding penalties and photo speed enforcement are just two of the recommendations of the Work Zone Safety Task Force assembled by Governor Blagojevich in 2003. Other recommendations of the Task Force, comprised of members from IDOT, Illinois State Police, the Tollway, Federal Highway Administration, labor and industry representatives include:



Better defined work zones—projects on multi-lane highways have signs better identifying the appropriate speed in a particular work zone and also when it is safe to resume normal speed.
Modified driver education curriculum—A compact disc and teaching manuals have been mailed to more than 1,500 high schools and private driver education facilities.
New Signage—A new sign has been developed and is being placed at projects throughout the state publicizing work zone related penalties, “Hit a worker, $10,000 fine, 14 years in jail”.
Enhanced use of stationary and portable changeable message boards in and around work zones.
More consistent looking work zones.
Remote controlled flaggers—IDOT is using federal research funds to test 20 newly developed remote flagger workstations.
“Trooper in a Truck”—allowing state police to covertly enforce speed limits, out-of-uniform and in IDOT trucks.
Trooper Hire-back—$4.7 million has been identified to fund additional troopers in work zones throughout the state. Additional troopers allow state police to deploy work zone details in areas of heightened concern.

[woody2]

Thanks for the info! Oh I hope there not doing sidepipe DB levels.
Be Careful Ralph!

[RedSnake351]

Originally Posted by woody2

Thanks for the info! Oh I hope there not doing sidepipe DB levels.
Be Careful Ralph!

Actually, the governor has signed a waiver that Cobras with wide-open pipes are exempt from the new law. The reason, according to Blogy, is that workers and motorists in construction zones will stop whatever they were doing and immediately become aware of a speeding Cobra in the vicinity! He praised the "wide-open pipes" as an excellent safety tool and strongly advises other states' governors to follow suit!
"Ralph-WHAT DID HE SAY?"

[thudmaster]

Photo Blocker paint to the rescue..................

[Jerry Clayton]

Worker safety is a big issue in Illinois as there is a lot of repairs to be made to the roads----If every body would just slow down, the practice will spread to other drivers, eventually increasing the safty level to the workers

I do however wish that THEY would only have work areas where work is taking place ,

Jerry

[slow_motion]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

I do however wish that THEY would only have work areas where work is taking place ,

Jerry

AMEN! Preach brother preach! My sentiments exactly Jerry! It's very frustrating when IDOT bottlenecks four lanes into one w/speed reduction causing huge delays -- AND THEN THERE'S NOBODY MAKING REPAIRS!

[Jerry Clayton]

This was up a while ago---refreshing our thoughts on this now that the season is in full swing-----just saw a very aggressive driver in a gas tanker speeding thru traffic and some work zones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year on 80 we were passes by a super wide load(huge sailboat) driver was doing about 80 thru traffic and the construction zones down by 80/55 west of Joliet--dodging in and out of the barricades, bridges,etc---

I think the big rigs with the hazsmat, highly flamable, and oversized loads should all be on special permits, have a sat tracking device for speed control and location and be more closely monitered

Jerry

[Cobrabill]

So everyone should have the Gestapo watching them because of a few idiots?

[Jerry Clayton]

No. not at all---but consider that if a truck is hauling highly flamable/explosive, super wide/high it should be permitted and some are escorted---The sat tracking device would put the responcibility on the drivers to obey the rules and the public should/would/could be protected by those whose duty it is to protect and serve!!!!This is no more than many of the large trucking companies are already doing---

Personally, I'm tired of some escorts of over size/width rigs bullying traffic at 80 mph in restricted speed zones--If I've offended your right to privacy on a public road, I'm sorry, but in an accident with one of those deals , everybody loses

Jerry

PS


Of course maybe your roads in Tucson don't need the amount of repair our roads do after our winters

[Cobrabill]

Offended?Me?Nope-it takes a lot more than that.

High/wides are already escorted.(most)

Escort vehicles for EVERY vehicle that is haz/at placarded?Don't we have more than enough vehicles on the roads?

And despite what you observe,those "rogue" rig drivers are a very small minority.9 out of 10 rig involved accidents are caused by the other vehicle.

And how long do you think it would be before the Gestapo mandated tracking devices in all vehicles if we "let" them do it to the rigs?

[Jimi G]

Originally Posted by thudmaster

Photo Blocker paint to the rescue..................

Too bad that stuff dosen't work, it would be nice if they did have something like that that worked.

[ChipBeck]

Originally Posted by slow_motion

According to provisional data from 2004, 39 people were killed in work zones last year, with two of them being workers.

2 workers were killed in the entire United States last year by people driving through a work zone, but not necessarily speeding. So they have to CRACK DOWN!!! What a crock. 10 times that number of highway workers were probably killed by drinking milk. My hometown Scottsdale led the nation with this BS. HUGE EASY MONEY for the cities to spend. There is a special place in hell for bureaucrats who come up with crap like this.

Chip

[Trueoo7]

Remember when they said that they would never use highway cameras to give out tickets..... invasion of privacy or something. Wow, how that changed. Whats next ?
Just heard today someone on the radio say that they should use convicted felons in the workzones, then we wouldn't have to slow down....

[jdog]

California DMV has already had some dialog with us, (PIA, California's Prison Industry Authority) about putting RFD tags into every license plate, so they can charge fees by-the-mile!

They want to track every vehicle that drives in California and charge hwy fees per mile driven! I suppose this technology would provide plenty of other useful information to DMV/CHP as well!

The world is getting smaller!

jdog
P.S. Caltrans has been looking at putting photo camera's on freeway overpasses and writting speeding tickets 24/7. They could also track any license plate number as it crossed the state.
Also, the police here have license plate readers that can scan & check hundreds of plates per hour as they drive past. The damn meter-readers use it here for writting parking tickets, they just drive by and scan your plate.

[Jerry Clayton]

That data was from just the state of Illinois--I think there have already been 2 or 3 killed this year, here in northern Illinois

Jerry

[mdmull]

I agree with Jerry and I have been through the Photo Cop set-up on I-88 twice this past two weeks. If you can't see them well before you are in range you deserve any ticket you get - Large Van with speed display on roof with letters at least a foot high.

[cdog]

REVENUE GENERATION is the key phrase here...

Commie, big brother bull****.

[fastraxsg]

The technology is already in place in some countries that allow the police to download all the data from a reader placed in a rig. They can also use the system to tell where it is at any time in real time and they can go back and download his speed over certain areas of road at a later date, no need for a cop on duty. They go back and throw the book at the driver along with tickets, jail time and/or loss of license (and Job). Its not if they will do it but when. Got a GPS in your car? Who is watching you when you don't know it?

[Aussie Mike]

We've had speed cameras for years down here. They form a significant part of each state governments revinue income.

The next step they have just taken is to install cameras that measure your average speed. You go past one camera and it checks your speed whilst taking a pic of your licence plate. No problem, I saw it and went past it under the limit. 100KM down the road another one snaps you going past under the speed limit but the computers in the system calculate the time it took you to travel from the first camera to the second camera and calculates your average speed. If that's above the limit you get a fine in the post.

We have a lot of long boring straight freeways down here and you often have to drive a long way to get anywhere. These types of cameras will catch a lot of people unawares.

Cheers

[Bryan Wilson]

Touch wood, I've never been caught by a speed camera the trick to not giving the government my money is don't exceed the speed limit.
Cheers,
Bryan