When is some clever attorney going to sue the City of Chicago to refund the fines collected for exceeding the arrogantly established and potentially dangerous 40 m.p.h. speed limit on North Lake Shore Drive?
Two recent trips demonstrated how ridiculous that speed posting is. At approximately 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday I drove northbound and, using an Institute of Transportation Engineers technique, found the “running” speed north of Oak Street to vary between 45 and 60 m.p.h. The lower speed was in the vicinity of Fullerton Avenue where a police vehicle with flashing emergency lights was apparently issuing a citation. The higher speed was in the area north of Irving Park and extended almost to the Hollywood terminus.
The second trip at approximately 3:30 p.m. was southbound from Hollywood. Through the entire length of this trip to near the Oak Street curve I maintained a cruise control-set speed between 40 and 45 m.p.h. (Only once did I have to brake to go below 40 m.p.h. and at no time did my speed exceed 45 m.p.h.) Not once did I pass a slower-moving vehicle but was passed by every vehicle approaching from the rear. In other words the 40 m.p.h. limit was violated by every driver on that day at that time.
A 100 percent violation rate speaks volumes as to the unreasonableness of the 40 m.p.h. limit!
Its potential danger was shown as I merged with the southbound Belmont ramp traffic. Frequent glances in the rear-view mirror showed repeated jockeying of vehicles in the following traffic stream. Effectively, by observing the 40 m.p.h. speed limit, I was constricting the right lane and the entering traffic from Belmont so as to prevent a smooth merge, thereby creating additional unnecessary conflicts.
As much as I dislike litigation to rectify matters of justice, fairness and reasonableness, that appears to be the only way that dangerous speed limit will be removed.
