A letter I recently penned to the Illinois Tollway Authority (who operates the Chicago toll roads) in response to an emailed newsletter urging citizens to obey their ridiculous 45 mph speed limits in construction zones. For those of you who have not yet had the opportunity to whine on this subject, here is a brief synopsis; they have 45 mph zones on huge 8+ lane freeways running through the city. Virtually nobody even comes close to obeying these limits:
Hello,
In your recent emailed newsletter, you state, "Slow down-drive 45. Speeding is one of the major causes of work zone accidents. Reduced speed limits are in effect even when workers are not present"
This really caught my attention as I have noted that I am just about the ONLY one on these roads who obeys this law. How pathetic is it when actually driving your artificially low speed limit actually CAUSES unsafe traffic conditions as cars blast past me at 70 mph. It is ridiculous to post these speed limits to harm law-abiding citizens such as myself without providing a level of enforcement sufficient to create an incentive to obey for those who refuse to obey for principles alone. YOU ARE CREATING A SAFETY HAZARD BY POSTING THESE LOW LIMITS AND NOT ENFORCING THEM!!!!
If a lmited police budget is the excuse for the practically non-existant enforcement, then the situation is worse than I thought. The traffic fines alone from an organized traffic enforcement policy would EASILY pay for any increased patrolling expenses.
How pathetic is it that Chicagoans know that they had better slow down at the Wisconsin border because traffic laws are actually seriously enforced there?
FYI, if I ever am involved in a traffic accident on your roads as a result of my obedience to your unenforced and arbitrarily low speed limits, I will bring legal action against you for negligence. Obeying the lay should not put my physical safety at risk and currently, that is EXACTLY what is going on.
Thank you for taking the time to read an emotional letter from a concerned citizen.
For any Chicago readers who enjoy breaking the law: please let me apologize for my meddling. The 45 mph limit is clearly WAY too low, but rather than break the law, wouldn't you rather see the limit changed to something reasonable so that you could obey?
1 comment:
Yes it would be so nice to be able to obey the law without feeling like you're going to die....In Australia, they have very efficient traffic speeding detection methods. We'd been here one month when I got my first ticket in the mail. And the speed limits are incredibly slow everywhere. I've gotten quite used to it. Speed limits are so high in the US! I guess Americans are more impatient.
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