Posted: 6/26/2007 5:41:21 AM EDT
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That as of July 1, Illinois has a law that states that anyone driving 1mph over the speed limit in a work zone will receive a $375 dollar fine for a first offense. A second offense will get you a $1000 fine and a 90 day revocation of your license. Supposedly, cameras will take a picture of your face and plate and you will receive your fine via mail. |
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You mean this one? www.dot.state.il.us/press/r033005.html The one they have been doing for 2 years. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 30, 2005 They were issuing over 200 tickets a day on I88 last year. |
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If it seems a bit severe, it seems that drivers have a habit of knocking off the highway workers from time to time, strictly accidentally, of course. The "Be careful - My mommy works here" campaign didn't help. $375 does tend to get people's attention. I prefer to not speed in the work zones. But when I'm on my motorbike, I'd also prefer not to be a sitting duck. |
Got Dayum!! I guess that may be it!! Then again, I don't speed in work zones. |
I spoke with one of the troopers that is assigned to "camera duty" and he said that they will usually give 10mph over, but once you hit 11, you are getting a ticket. One of the interesting things is that if your face is not clear, you *may* not get the ticket. If you claim that you were not driving your car, you have to submit an affidavit that says who was driving. It's wacky. Mike F |
And I had heard that if the picture of the driver is not the registered owner, no ticket will be issued. Is this true? |
+1 There are some drivers I'd like to chuck bricks off the side of their cars. When working on the roads I swear some people think the yellow shirts we wear mean "go faster". It's a good law in my opinion. |
The idea is wonderful - the implementation is poor. (go fig) Several points come to mind: 1) If a 1/2 mile stretch out of 52 is actually being worked on, the entire 52 mile stretch is branded "Construction Zone"*. I understand that the idea is not to have to relocate barricades / warnings, and allow the crews the freedom to work anywhere in the area, but then you have 2) the "Construction zone" being in effect 24/7. Just fine if your crews are in Chicago or in the collar counties working "off peak" (9p-6a) but downstate it's 1am and I'm in a Construction Zone with no workers facing the same penalty as if someone was actually working - and thus is potential danger from traffic. Otherwise, I think the restriction is a good idea. I just wonder when it stops being for the owrkers and starts being for "Uncle Rod"'s budget defecit. * For those that think I'm hyperbolizing, I55 had a situation like this 2 years ago. |
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So what team of mathmatical genuises is going to be in charge of making sure these electronics are calibrated sensitively enough to determine 1mph over the limit? The ISP? I certainly hope I am not alone in my view that this state is truely run by the mentally retarded. |
The only unfortunate tragedy is that Illinois is a Liberal Union Welfare state that has manual labor convinced that they are too precious to have to work at night. The simple solution is to run your crews overnight with a very mild police presence in the near vicinity to control the small drivel of traffic that passes through overnight. You will get the typical BS from the Union that it costs more to work at night due to generators running lights. BS you run crews during hours where less traffic must be managed and the job time will be reduced. This is a labor union problem. Take it from a construction worker of many years, union labor has been convinced they are special and should be catered to. You take the same road jobs to a state like Kentucky and the locals will stand in line to make that type of hourly scale working overnights. When the day comes that the labor unions unravel, and that day is drawing near, we will once again have manufacturing in this country, ear marked pork barrel union road jobs that never needed to be done and take years to do will be eliminated and the cost of housing and aoutomobiles will be affordable once again. Shit can the Unions and run non union labor at night. Save a ton of money, get it done and get it done by non-premadonas. Guys, I have been out there everyday in the heat this week too busting my ass, don't take this the wrong way. The unions are the proverbial ass sore on our society and do nothing more than protect bad workers and punish good management and business logic. |
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They were issuing over 200 tickets a day on I88 last year. This is an indicator of what I have been preaching for years. the state is bankrupt and ISP has become a revenue collection agency. I am sure that wasn't the intent of those who studied and worked hard for a law enforcement career. |
On the stretch they were working on, there was one of those LED signs on the overpass stating this. They updated it each day saying how many tickets were issued. It was like the the whole week I was using that portion of the Interstate for work. |
It's not a "union problem", it's a problem with the bid process. No company is going to pay their guys the same to work from 0700-1500 as they are to work from 2100-0500, whether it's a union shop ior a non-union one. Such a requirement would be specified in the RFB and then again in the submitted bids. The state wants the job done for the lowest cost - thus the specification of day work rather than paying the difference for shift differential and associated equipment costs (gennys). The reason the tollway and IDOT were able to do "opposite hours" construction was due to the historically demonstrated problems with rerouting traffic in the Chicago area during daylight hours. But they don't give a shit about folks cruising outside "the collar". And the scale is lower south of I80, then lower again south of I65 IIRC. Of course they'd love to get Chicago wages to work in KY. 
Hey - when they support candidates like Blowguyabitch and other libs, their payback has to come from somewhere... might as well be our pockets, right? |
Just remember that driving with a ski mask or other head and face covering on is a felony in illnois punishable by a sentence of up to three years in length. I had a friend who had no heat in his old beater VW and was sick, going to the hospital for treatment(pneumonia) and was arrested for this.(shitcago) He had to pay over 3500 dollars in legal fees in order to fight this. He ended up pretty disgusted by the system, well at least the lawyers got paid, that was what's important. The cop must have been a real asshole |
The ISP DOES NOT calibrate its radar equipment. Drum Roll please..... The calibraters are the same people that sell them their radar equipment as well as sell to a vast majority of the nation.... DECATUR RADAR.....yep folks located in Decatur IL. You can calibrate any equipment until you are blue in the face... Their will still be inaccuracies due to a wide vatiety of effects such as temperature, humidity and even wind. Electronics (resistors, diodes and transistors) are highly suseptible to drift caused by heat. Even the power supply comes into play if the power regulator within the device can't make up for the voltage drift within the regulator in the device during and after calibration. Point is there is no way to get a 100% accurate reading and there is no way to say that radar is 97%,98%,95% accurate without checking calibration before, after and during a "radar shoot". |
Sorry, but I disagree. You might think that the unions are nothing but lazy ass prima donnas, but there is no labor force that is better trained and more safety oriented than a union shop. I've been a union member for over 25 years and while I don't agree with their politics, I've lived a comfortable lifestyle, own my home outright and have put 2 kids through college. I worked non-union jobs for several years before I joined the union and have seen both sides. If the federal and state work goes to non union labor, be prepared to lose your job to $10/hr. "undocumented" workers. I have many friends in residential construction who, for many years, made a good living. These guys are slowly losing out to crews of eastern european and mexican workers. The quality of work is diminishing along with the price and the wages. I assume that you are a carpenter by trade. The carpentry work is usually the first to lose out to non-union. I'm willing to bet that the mechanical trades (plumbers and electricians) you work with are union and will remain union. Take a lesson from them. |
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Went up to the WI Sportsmans Assoc. Range yesterday. www.ar15.com/content/page.html?id=41 Shot my FAL and Kimber TLE. There was a good bunch of us all doing 45mph in the far right lane up and back. I have alot better things to do with $375 that pay this crooked state. |
Jeez, suprised I haven't been arrested everytime I have my helmet on while I ride my motorcycle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only in this state! |