Thursday, April 26, 2012

Approve speed cameras now

The City of Chicago is considering use of speed cameras.

The Illinois State Police began using them a while back in Work Zones.Did they have any effect?

Paradise Valley, Arizona began using them years ago. They were in use, when I lived in Phoenix in 1989. And you know what? Drivers slowed down in Paradise Valley!

What's wrong with speed cameras? Nothing. They photograph cars of speeders and record the speeds. Then a ticket is mailed to the owner of the vehicle.

In Paradise Valley, if the owner wasn't driving the car, he could write back and say so, identifying in whose possession his car was at the time. I remember a conversation with a woman who was livid that her husband had mailed back a ticket and identified her, without telling her. I thought that was hilarious. She didn't claim that she wasn't speeding; only that he ratted her out.

All you have to do is drive on the Illinois Tollway, the Dan Ryan or the Kennedy Expressway to experience the insanity of the speeding problem. Many drivers routinely speed 15-20-25-30 MPH over the limit. What's wrong with nailing them with PhotoRadar?

And what's wrong with nailing those who operate at 15 or 10 or 6MPH over the limit? The speed limit is the Speed Limit. If you think the Speed Limit is unreasonably low, put some pressure on those who set the Speed Limit.

I'll tell you one speed limit that is too low, and that's on the Dan Ryan from the circle to about 63rd Street. The speed limit is 45MPH. To obey the 45MPH is very dangerous; yet IDOT maintains that unreasonably low speed limit. It is probably set at 45MPH because IDOT admits that "everybody" speeds.

Try the I-90 Tollway any day between Randall Road and in near O'Hare. You might want to set your Cruise Control for about 75MPH (in the 55MPH zone), so that you don't get run over.

Police manpower does not exist to enforce speed limits. Using electronic enforcement gets my 100% approval.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The problem with speed cameras is that they will only be put in the areas with the most unreasonable speed limits (I'm looking at you, 20mph stretch in front of the Montessori on Country Club).

Gus said...

The 20MPH speed limit is a School Zone speed limit, in effect only between 7AM-4PM on school days and when children are present (which is hardly ever).

What would be the problem with an electronically-issued ticket to a speeder during those hours on a school day, if children were walking to or from school and clearly visible in the video?

I have never seen a student walking to or from school there. The parking lot is full of SUVs and moms hauling their kids to and from school. Maybe there shouldn't even be a School Zone there.

Dave Labuz said...

>>>> "Police manpower does not exist to enforce speed limits."

Or exist to enforce red lights or stop signs? You know, those quite actually dangerous violations that USED to be classified as a "must appear" on a ticket? Why do we have "police manpower", then?

Yes, let's just start ticketing vehicles instead of the drivers! LOL!

My God, Gus - just punch it, gol-darnit! 45 MPH on the Damn Ryan? Yeah, right!

What Gus - are you scared of forward progress in excess of 55 MPH?

Using electronic enforcement gets my 100% DISAPPROVAL,

Gus said...

DBTR, I'd love to "punch" it on the Dan Ryan. Out of interest in preservation of life and health, I ought to. I wonder what a trooper would say if I told him (or her) that I was afraid to obey the speed limit, since everyone else was driving 15-20-25MPH over the limit.

Gus said...

DBTR, I'd love to "punch" it on the Dan Ryan. Out of interest in preservation of life and health, I ought to. I wonder what a trooper would say if I told him (or her) that I was afraid to obey the speed limit, since everyone else was driving 15-20-25MPH over the limit.