Watch the birdie!

[LarryCurleyMoe]

Beginning in July the State of Illinois will use speed cameras in areas designated as "work zones" on major freeways. Anyone caught by the devices will be mailed a $375 ticket for the first offense, but a second ticket will cost $1000 and comes with a 90-day license suspension. Drivers will also receive demerit points against their license, which allows insurance companies to raise their insurance rates. This represents the harshest penalty structure yet for a city using photo enforcement. The state will begin with two camera vans issuing tickets in zones with speed limits lowered to 45 MPH. Photographs of both the driver's face and license plate are taken. Officials announced the plan on the Dan Ryan Expressway suggesting Chicago area roads are likely to be a target. Illinois Tollway Executive Director Jack Hartman promised more work zones: "Since the Tollway just launched our $5.3 billion Congestion Relief Plan", drivers will see more work zones on the Tollway than they have in the past."

Go to this website and read:   <http://www.dot.state.il.us/press/r033005.html>http://www.dot.state.il.us/press/r033005.html

I'M HIGHLY CONFIDENT THESE GADGETS ARE ERROR-FREE!!!!

Anything like this in place in YOUR part of the world??

[catesta]

Phoenix and the surrounding areas have these things all over the place.

They snap a pic of the car from the rear and the front in an attempt to get a positive ID.

The owner of the car gets the ticket no matter who is driving. I had a ticket sent to me once when a mechanic was road testing my vehicle. The judge ended up throwing it out, but I could have easily been screwed.

The big thing here was to ignore the ticket since it was not sent by certified mail and they could not prove you received it. Now they will suspend your license if you try that.

[brownie]

Some 1,000 of these speeding cameras have been in use for the past two years on French roads.

One of those caught me while I was driving at 111-kilometer per hour in a zone where the speed limit was set at 110-kilometer per hour (about 60 mph). Couple of weeks later I got a computerized ticked for being one kiilometer over the limlit and had to pay the fine. My first in several years