More than 1,200 construction zone speeding violations have been recorded in the first 11 days that an Illinois State Police photo-radar van has been parked on the side of the Dan Ryan and Kingery Expressways, authorities say.
Speeders beware because so far the program has targeted only the most flagrant violators. Drivers going as much as 14 mph faster than the work-zone speed limit have been given a pass so far, but that could change.
At $375 per violation in the 45 mph construction areas, fines would total $476,625 if tickets were mailed to all of the 1,271 drivers caught by the Doppler radar and the high-resolution cameras during the 11-day enforcement period that ended Friday, officials said.
The actual total fines will be lower, authorities say, but some drivers already are up in arms as the tickets begin to arrive in mailboxes.
Critics contend that the automated enforcement system should not be allowed to replace police pulling over a vehicle because it doesn’t have an officer’s trained eye and presumes a driver’s guilt. Opponents also say the vans represent an ineffective approach to combating dangerous driving and reducing fatalities in construction zones.
“The oft-repeated statement that the program is for safety and not revenue generation is impossible to believe,” said Adam Wilson, Illinois state activist for the National Motorists Association, which backed federal legislation eliminating the national 55 mph maximum speed limit. State police officials disagree that photo-radar vans amount to a production-line method to trap drivers who speed.
If the goal were to use the technology to catch the maximum possible number of speeders, fines easily would have topped several million dollars by now, authorities say. The vans are capable of citing hundreds of speeding vehicles per hour.
Tickets have been sent so far only to drivers going at least 60 mph in the 45 mph work zones, State Trooper Tony Ostrowski said.
The 14 mph leeway, which officials said is subject to change, is designed to ensure that the tickets lead to convictions in court.
“We’re out here trying to slow down drivers so people don’t get hurt,” Ostrowski said Thursday while sitting at a computer console operating the speed-enforcement van on the southbound Dan Ryan at 81st Street. The van typically records 175 to 250 violations in a two- to three-hour shift, said State Trooper Jeff Darko, who spearheaded deployment of the program.
The van hasn’t been used every day since the program started May 19, officials said. Factors include weather, traffic flow and tactical decisions.
The busiest day was May 20, when 335 violations were recorded, State Police Capt. Peter Negro said. Four days later, only two violations were rung up, he said.
The 45 mph construction-zone speed limit is in effect around the clock, although under state law, the photo-radar vans are allowed to operate only when work is being done. Speed will be enforced by regular patrols at other times, officials said.
Danger zones
Speeding or failing to reduce speed are the leading causes contributing to construction-zone accidents each year, the Illinois Department of Transportation says. Speed was blamed for 833 crashes in 2004. There were 26 deaths, including one construction worker, in work-zone accidents in Illinois last year. Thirty-nine deaths, including two workers, occurred in work zones in 2004. In 2003, 44 people were killed in work areas, five of them workers.
