• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

"harshest penalty structure ever set"

136045

New member
The following is from a Illinois State Police press release. I am not trying to start any debate, just wanting to give fair warning to those who might be travelling through Illinois this summer.



Illinois will begin using photo radar in freeway work zones in July. One mile per hour over the speed limit and the machine will get you a nice $375.00 ticket in the mail.

Beginning July 1st, the State of Illinois will begin using the 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.

The SECOND offense will cost $1000.00 and comes with a 90-Day suspension. Drivers will also receive demerit points against their license, which allow insurance companies to raise Insurance rates.

This is the harshest penalty structure ever set for a governmental unit involving PHOTO speed enforcement. The State already has two camera vans on line issuing tickets 24/7 in work zones with speed limits lowered to 45 MPH. Photos of both the Driver's face and License plate are taken. Pass this on to everyone you know who might be affected!!!

For more info: http://www.dot.state.il.us/press/r033005.html
http://www.dot.state.il.us/press/r033005.html
 
I stay in the truck lane thru the construction zones.

It's kinda like having a governor.
 
Not aware that it has ..

generated the revenue one would think would come out of a system like this. The threat has been out there for a while, I just have not heard of waves of tickets in mailboxes.

Am I wrong?:scratch

And the state budget is still billions of dollars from being balanced - forget the unfunded pensions.
 
The bus company I work for has had this(essentially) same warning every year around this time for about the last 3 to 5 yrs. Never heard of any of our drivers getting one. 55 is about as hard as you want to push it in those zones, some days or trips through you are lucky to get 45 or 50. Other days you can go as fast as you dare, but again 55 is all I would recommend.
I have seen the vans out though, only a few times, look for the camera on a short tripod on a concrete barrier, they aren't very sneaky about it.
$375 is the minimum. The minimum speeding ticket is $75 (don't ask how I'd know that), plus the $300 for the construction area.
One of our guys did get yanked running with a few semi's at night, I think 65 mph in the 45 zone (no more than about 70 as that's where our governators are set), was bigga bucks, $750ish? Don't know if he went to court, the kind of thing fellow employees only know about if the other guys feels like telling.
Gilly
 
Have a friend in the Toronto area who regularly rode through photo cop zones. Granted, he knew exactly where the cameras were, but he'd lean back on his bike and cover his plate with his hand temporarily, or have some article hanging low enough to partialy obscure the plate for the camera.

He says it worked for him. He got stopped once and given a warning for not having the plate fully visible.
 
These appear to take the photo from the front - so they'll get my helmeted face and, of course, not the plate. Am I wrong?
 
Have a friend in the Toronto area who regularly rode through photo cop zones. Granted, he knew exactly where the cameras were, but he'd lean back on his bike and cover his plate with his hand temporarily, or have some article hanging low enough to partialy obscure the plate for the camera.

He says it worked for him. He got stopped once and given a warning for not having the plate fully visible.

Man! He must have had some long arms to be able to reach his plate!
 
generated the revenue one would think would come out of a system like this. The threat has been out there for a while, I just have not heard of waves of tickets in mailboxes.

Am I wrong?:scratch

And the state budget is still billions of dollars from being balanced - forget the unfunded pensions.

They are getting stricter since our state budget is similar to California and the national deficit. Coworkers wife was one of over 200 people in court one day for this offense. So if it is happened one day, how many more times is it happening?

Roy
 
Sorry but you guys are becoming more than a bit cynical when you start equating construction zone tickets with balancing the budget for a state.

I am not a speeding or speeding ticket virgin. Speed limits in construction zones when the job site is shut down for the day drive me as crazy as the next guy.

Go to a funeral for a growing number of construction workers killed by a speeder in a road construction zone, in my case the college age son of a friend killed on a summer job by a speeder, and tell me increased enforcement and ticket prices is about balancing the budget.

You may not keep up with me on the open road but in a construction zone IÔÇÖll pile traffic up behind me by driving the speed limit at most.
 
Legal or Not ?

Minnesota is in the process of refunding fines assessed to auto owners ticketed this way. I think the problem was proving who was driving. Would expect the same fight elsewhere also.
 
Sorry but you guys are becoming more than a bit cynical when you start equating construction zone tickets with balancing the budget for a state.
I don't think it's cynical when this has been the case for years. Traffic fines and forfeitures that are predominantly for speeding are a profit center much more than for safety. While many other more dangerous (lane usage, yielding properly, inattentive driving) offenses are simply ignored, speeding is cited so often because it's easy.
Speed limits in construction zones when the job site is shut down for the day drive me as crazy as the next guy.
So why should we tolerate that? It's simply stupid. In most states, school zone limits are enforced only during days and hours when the children are present. Is it so much harder to determine when a construction crew is present? Illinois, OTOH, clearly says it on their signs - and there is no justification other than profit.
 
And for all your bluster and argument you chose to ignore the thrust of what bothers me with speeders in active construction zones.
 
When a highway construction site appears to be shut down, there still may be some workers around. Surveyors may be working outside of normal hours to avoid conflicts with machinery. Inspectors may be doing site and material checks after the contractor's people have gone home.

A quiet construction site may not be an inactive one.
 
Hey ............. I work behind those barriers in Construction Zones....
Please Be Careful....I wanna go home at night...

Oh and by the way.....
trafficsign.jpg
 
And for all your bluster and argument you chose to ignore the thrust of what bothers me with speeders in active construction zones.
I didn't need to mention it because I agreed with it.
 
Now we have a newspaper article up saying you'll have pretty fair warning up if the van is there. You will see a electronic radar sign (like in school zones) to warn you, and shortly after that the photo van. If you get it backed down right away you should be OK. Couldn't find the exact article online, but is similar to this one:
http://www.bcrnews.com/articles/2009/06/26/99999859/index.xml
 
Back
Top