Illinois Speed Cams in Construction Zones

I agree TOTALLY!!!

I concur w/the thots regarding no activity in a construction zone. I can accept a couple of days of inactivity, but more than a week causes me to think the project manager for the site should be fired for ineptness or that the construction organization has contracted for more than one job to be done at the same time...and yet, in Illinois, no government official fires anyone...which is because the construction organization has probably "paid to play."

Year after year we in Illinois complain about corruption and yet we as a whole never learn. The same crooks are voted in year after year. Why don't they enact laws like NY where they have mandated 24 hr a day construction and incentives for finishing early or on time? We complain but the masses are more concerned about perceived gains by voting blindly for the same party year after year.

I apologize for the political nature of this post in advance but unless you live here you don't really know how bad they are.

Back to the topic. The few times I have gone through a speed camera area the construction had traffic so backed up no one could have gotten a ticket. It is about the money not safety yet no one will admit it.

Many parts of the country seem to have the same stupid problem with re-electing incumbants [same polititions] over & over again! We can JUST SAY NO by how we VOTE!!!

All parts of the country should wake up and smell the coffee by seeing the advantages of doing road-construction like New York, then doing likewise.

90 west right after the turn for the tri state is a good example of a non construction zone. They've had that marked as a construction zone for at least a year, but they have never done anything there. I think someone forgot to pick up the signs and barrels.

My experience is that doing road construction like New York means don't do any construction. The Long Island Expy or I-95 south into NYC has needed construction for the past 15 years. Travel on them tears vehicles apart.

I keep wondering how their cameras catch your speed when they *never* set off the radar detector.

Radar isn't the only technology out there that is used to measure speed.

One possible answer:
It can "see" your vehicle......so it measures how long it takes to go a calibrated short distance.
LIDAR, I think they call it.
Sometimes the old methods are the best.

Construction workers should know their jobs are risky, so they should realize that accidents do happen. In my drive up I-39 last month, I did note quite a bit of road construction signage, but almost no work going on. I agree, it does look to me like the cams are revenue collection gimicks!

Groundhog, I am not sure if I am reading you right, I too do not like to see construction zones with no workers working or two working and four looking on, but it seems pretty callous to state that "Construction workers should know their jobs are risky, so they should realize that accidents do happen."
That sounds a little non-caring to me.
If I mis-read your meaning, I humbly apologize.

After 23 years on the fire department. Along with slowing down in construction zone. Moving over and slowing down for emergency vehicles rates up there at the top also.

My statement was callous. Just that working in a construction area involves risks. So, with all the traffic and goings on, both sides need to be cautious, obey the laws, and use common sense. I felt rushed to type something clarifying my statement. Oh, I care. I do care very much. Sorry for sounding flippant in my remarks!

I think some speed detection is done by some kind of laser-beam technology.

Drivers should realize that when a large stretch of highway is marked as being under construction, activity is not always taking place. Better to slow down whenever there are construction warnings, rather than to speed through an area because you don't SEE people or equipment working.

That's true-

What about going through Construction Zones at night? Or on weekends? I can tell you for a fact that there are no constructions workers working at night that I can't see, unless they are hiring workers that can see in the dark. The speed cameras should only be turned on during working hours for the workers. Getting a ticket for speeding through a construction zone at 4AM is no different than getting a ticket for speeding through a school zone on Christmas Day. The ONLY reason for reduced speed in these areas is for safety of people walking and moving around outside. If there is no one outside working (or attending class because the entire school system is closed down) the need for the reduced speed is gone.

nice

Well, I partly agree - - -

Const' work on major highways out
West is quite often done in the middle of the night, or even on weekends, as it should be... to provide the peak-traffic-times with a minimum of hassle factor. You are right that the workers will not be expected to see in the dark, so if you don't see an abundance of lights upon the work, they are probably not out working that stretch of road, at the time. However, some of the reason for reduced speeds in the zone are for your own safety, since the project will likely call for reduced lane-widths, as well as reduced-radius-curves and other obstacles & dangers even when the workers are not present.

In Washington St., the “Double-Fines” are for times when the workers are present, yet if a posted reduced-speed is not observed… you may be on the hook for a ticket-

I read a long time ago, the reason they want you to slow down regardless of time of day, is because they have expensive equipment parked out there, and they're protecting that property as well.

When I'm in a construction zone, I get in the right lane and try my hardest to go 45. It's very dangerous when I'm going 45, everyone else is not slowing down.

I state this as a firefighter/paramedic that has worked on the roads and highways during accidents and medical calls...what is the difference if a highway worker gets hit by a person not paying attention driving 50-55 mph VS. 65-70 mph. No nice way to put it but worker loses either way. Speed didn't contribute to accident...person not paying attention or congested conditions did! The proper thing to do (in my opinion) is to keep traffic flowing at the regular posted speed limit and quit causing all the congestion and back-ups in the first place!

BINGO!! A few states do this, they have troopers parked at the construction zones, and, guess what--people slow down!!

Hiding/undercover, etc is all about collecting money--NOT safety! They hide because they want to catch you and fine you--if they wanted you to slow down they'd be out in the open where their presence would deter speeding........

NP

The worker's most likely dead whether struck at 45 mph or 65 mph, that's true. But I don't agree the lack of a difference in outcome invalidates the enhanced safety of reduced speed zones in highway construction areas. Highway construction zones are more dangerous for a number of reasons, not just workers on or near the road. You've got slow equipment which can be struck by cars or other trucks while pulling off and pulling on the regular lanes of the highway, you've got more distractions for the driver, and you've got narrower lanes with sharper shifts in direction than normal in many cases. Plus, it takes a driver much more distance to stop at 65 mph than at 45 mph if a worker is at risk of being hit. These are all reasons that a mandated reduction in speed can contribute to a safer construction zone for everybody.

One key way in which it is not safer is when you've got some drivers who observe it at 45 mph while others still want to go 65 mph.

On Illinois tollways if you slow down to 45 mph when and where you should you are about to get run off the road I DO slow down but people are lucky if they go from 70-75 to maybe 65mph it is really sad but those are the facts and if you really do 45 look out.

I am all for whatever needs to be done to slow people down but the fact is people slow to no where near 45.

I totally agree!!!

While I can see that some zones really DO need reduced speeds for everyone's safety... sneaking around in unmarked photo-vans is just a cowardly sleazy money-grab funded by our own tax-dollars at work! An obvious presence not only looks a whole lot more like somebody (the cops) are actually EARNING their pay, it is light-years ahead in improving SAFETY while doing a whole lot less MONEY-GRUBBING!!!

The equation is really THAT obvious - !! - !!

If someone deserves a ticket, let them get pulled over by a cop at the time of the offense. Getting something in the mail for something you probably don't remember and have no way of knowing if you committed the offense or maybe even if you are driving is a bad way to go. It's time to ban the cameras everywhere.

The thing of that ruffles my feathers is the fact that visibility is a deterrent. When was the last time you saw anyone pass a cop car on the highway? I can tell when there's one ahead, because there will be a huge line of cars, all afraid to pass him. If the intent is to protect construction workers, park a marked car right before the construction zone and EVERYONE will obey the posted limit. Of course the state won't make any money that way, so I doubt it will happen.

Ban them ALL, coast to coast!!!

Exactly!

have yet to spot a camera

In the Chicagoland area, the construction zones can run 20 miles or more. I think the signs should have the added sign "when workers are present" like they used to. The only workers you ever see at 2-4 am are the sign guys sitting on the side of the road waiting to either put up the barricades and take them down. If you work a night shift, you're in for months and months of reduced speed on the expressway. I'm all for safety for the workers, but not when they're home in bed and I'm not.

Unless there are physical hazards in the zone, which may sometimes be necessary due to tne nature of certain types of road construction, they should otherwise not hassel people with tons of extra barricades & reduced speeds during off-shift times.

My vote is, at such slack times, to return to the "when workers are present" way of doing things on the highways and allow motorists to make good time.

Yes cops have several ways to get you. They have Radar, which you can get a radar detector for, Laser which the cop must have the laser unit outside of the vehicle because it does not travel through glass, and really out tech from WWII where they have a computer that they eneter in your start time reaching a designated spot and end spot and it will calculate your speed pretty easy math. That makes your radar dector useless, and cops love doing it cause some many people think radar laser detectors will always save them. So if you get a ticket and you have a radar detector... guess how and why.... Illinois state police use it all the time!

I remember when I got my license in NC in the 80's being warned about VASCAR (Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder) and that it couldn't be detected by radar detectors. I had many friends who were nabbed by cops using this technique. One way to tell is if you see painted lines going across the road for no apparent reason, it could be a dedicated point for cops using VASCAR since they have to know the exact distance in order to calculate your average speed. This is also how police can detect your speed using aircraft.

The speed cameras are great money makers. I haven't been nabbed yet but it's just a matter of time.

I saw the speed cams myself. What a nervouse way to get your way around the windy city.

My wife got nabbed by a red light camera visiting her son in Chicago. She didn't see the sign and turned right on red when she shouldn't have. But we've never been nabbed by a speed camera in IL.

Woah!

We have that in MD too. Given the depth of poor fiscal responsibility, no politician (who is not up for re-election!) would pass up the possibility for more revenue.

Until a major issue is made of it in each state & the politicians see the downside for themselves, it will only get worse.

Fred

Just my two cents but construction zones is one good place for speed cameraa. not so in some of the other places they have them. (also school zones)

I know this is an old thread, but just TODAY the computer in my 18-wheeler received a message that Illinois is adding speed cameras, I think in construction zones, but the fines are incredible! Seems like it was $375 for the first offense, and $1000 for the second!

Glad I don'[t go there any more.

I know it's an old post I'm replying to, but I-95 reduced speed construction zones in Maryland are camera'd 24/7, whether or not workers present. And the traffic patterns are not tricky == no need to reduce speed limit if no workers present, for instance at o'dark 30.

From my understanding, the speed cameras are for school zones. I wonder how long it'll be before they do add speed cameras to construction zones. At present, they have vans that move from location to location. And yes, those are the fines in construction zones.

http://www.modot.org/tsc/documents/WorkZone.pdf

Why is there an Illinois DOT document on the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT.org) server?

Anyone that speeds in construction zones should be ticketed, it's not easy dodging speeding vehicles. The roads do need fixing so why not let the workers do their jobs.

The cameras take pictures nights and weekends when no workers are present. I also have seen a zone speed limit sign more than a half mile before the first cone. NOT FAIR and nothing to do with safety.

I as a traveler cross country am many times upset entering construction zones and having to drive a slower speed and not finding any workers present.
A careful study of this would show that the sign has no knowledge of when workers show up to work or not so it is making a decision that they are there at all times.
I agree with this because the law which we are bound by states that anyone breaking the law will be punished by the sentence imposed by the legislature. This is not a nation of "One has to evade the sentence and not be found guilty at all costs" country.
The law prevails and not ones ignorance of it.
To those who cry "it is a money maker" I suggest obeying the law and there will be no money making. It is the law breakers that fill the coffers.