On Thursday I drove into Chicago on the Kennedy Expressway and continued south on the newly-reconstructed Dan Ryan. There were occasional 45MPH speed limit signs, so I poked along in the right lane, keeping a sharp eye on my rearview mirror.
The 45MPH speed limit signs were sparsely located, and I finally decided that the speed limit must be 55MPH, because there were four wide-open lanes and traffic was flying at about 65MPH. So I sped up to 55. And almost immediately came to a 45MPH speed limit sign. So I slowed down. At great personal risk, I must add.
I called IDOT and spoke with an engineer for that section. He told me a Speed Study would have to be done before they could raise the speed limit to 55. There is some goofy requirement in the Manual of Standards that highway engineers use that requirements them to do a speed study before changing a speed limit.
I asked if they could send a crew out to study the speeds from 1:00-1:05PM and then change the signs at 2:00PM, but he didn't think they could do it that way.
At the south end of the express lanes, where they merge with the local lanes, the speed limit does change to 55MPH. So I sped up there, while I was on the phone with the engineer. I watched an idiot in an old car come up behind me fast and told the engineer I had to speed up to avoid being rear-ended. The idiot passed me closely on the right, and I saw that he had a new-car registration tag. Not a "new" car, but a newly-purchased car.
Illinois drastically needs photo-radar. The cops will never control speeding by writing one ticket at a time.
So, just exactly why should I obey posted speed limits, when no one else does?
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
6 comments:
You called an IDOT engineer? hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
The IDOT engineer was informed, respectful, polite, and in agreement that the 45MPH speed limit needed to be raised. My experience with numerous traffic engineers at IDOT is that they want to know when and where things need to be fixed.
Shortly after I moved to Illinois in 1996, I was driving east on the Tollway from Route 47. The first speed limit sign read 55MPH, and traffic was blowing by me at 70-80MPH, including a State Police officer. I called his district in Pecatonica, where the duty officer assured me the speed limit was 65MPH, not 55MPH. So I asked why there was a 55MPH sign. His response was there had been a Work Zone there.
He and I called the Tollway, and quite quickly they restored the 65MPH speed limit signing.
The public's participation does get results.
You had me at hello.....
shit gus, is that all ur car can do? try driving down the expressway at 2am blitzed outta ur mind at 140mph.
there is no substitute
You should change your profile to r read 'I follow all laws except those that I disagree with or am not paying enough attention to to know what they are'. Then you will be more like all the other motorists you complain about.
As a matter of fact, I follow the ones with which I disagree. And I work to get those changed, when possible.
When one knows the laws, then he has a choice: obey them or don't obey them. I choose to obey them. Let's address traffic laws. I believe I know them pretty well, and I follow them. My doing so (such as driving at the speed limit in the right-hand lane) irritates many drivers. Too bad! However, when they are extremely aggressive and drive three feet behind my car at 55MPH, then I get irritated and often sic the cops on them. I am willing to go to court and testify as to their driving.
Until recently, I had a 100% conviction rate in McHenry County Traffic Court. The last time I was there, the other driver and his passenger perjured themselves, and the judge gave them the benefit of the doubt. Of course, it didn't help that the police department "lost" my typewritten statement and never sent it to the prosecuting attorney, even though the officer's report stated that it was attached. Possibly the P.A. would have cared a little more in court, if he had had the whole picture. But maybe not, since he wouldn't even talk to me before court started.
If our legislators obeyed speed limits on their trips to/from Springfield, they'd probably be as mad at other drivers I am, and then they would enact legislation to permit PhotoRadar and pass a law that would eliminate Court Supervision from the options of judges.
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