I wasn't paying attention Friday morning, March 13, on my way back from the vasekin (sunrise) minyan at Yeshivas Brisk. Driving north on McCormick Boulevard between Devon Avenue and Pratt Boulevard, I was looking for something in my bag in the passenger seat with my right hand while driving with my left. I saw the Lincolnwood Police squad car lying in wait on the grass, but it was much too late. Officer Gordon pulled me over and said he clocked me at 53 (in a 40). He was nice about me not being able to provide proof of insurance--I had not transferred it back to my vehicle after renting a van for Purim earlier in the week. But he still gave me a ticket. I prayed that he wouldn't show up for court April 13 (the day after Easter), and that's exactly what happened. I thought I had a decent case since I was at the back of a convoy of vehicles. Who's to say which car was going 53mph? Maybe it was the lead car!
I saw Officer Gordon again yesterday morning. He had already claimed a victim at 7:18. I drove south to the post office, and on the return trip, I had to pass right by. I made sure I stayed under 40. He parked behind a grassy knoll so drivers approaching him from the south only see his police car top before it's too late. He's like a feline predator stalking his prey. As I passed by (38mph), I waved.
I almost feel sorry for Officer Gordon. He spends months in police training. Then he spends an hour a day pulling over drivers in a hurry to get to work? (What's worse is that McCormick has no pedestrians and no intersections less than a half-mile apart, except for where Officer Gordon lies in wait. The speed limit really should be 50.) Every time he talks to a driver, he is about to ruin the driver's day, unless he issues a warning. I don't know if he ever does that; I suspect drivers with Chicago addresses never receive warnings from suburban police officers. As I mentioned in a previous post, the ticket is $75, but fighting it in court and losing costs an additional $135.
Don't risk having a conversation with Officer Gordon! It's far better to watch your speed on McCormick and wave at 38mph. Let the other drivers see him in their rear-view mirrors.
Showing posts with label Lincolnwood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lincolnwood. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Don't speed in the suburbs
For several months now, I've wanted to post about "hypermiling" on McCormick Boulevard in Lincolnwood and Skokie. That means coasting toward a red light in hopes that it will turn green before one need come to a stop. On McCormick, the lights are one-half mile apart. The light a half-mile ahead typically turns red just as traffic begins to move toward it from the previous intersection. Even though the speed limit is 40, the "light progression" speed is about 26. If one goes that speed, then one can proceed through the green light without waiting and wasting gasoline.
On Friday the 13th, I wasn't paying attention, and Officer Lincolnwood Speed Trap at McCormick and Albion clocked me doing 53 in a 40. I drive that stretch every day, and I still can't figure out how he was lying in wait. He was nice about me not having my insurance card; I explained that I had rented a vehicle earlier in the week and had not replaced my documents to the glove compartment like I should have. (That was true.) "Perfectly understandable," he said. He still gave me a $75 ticket. I thought I had a decent case. I was at the back of a convoy of vehicles. Did his radar gun say "Silver Honda Civic"? Of course not. It cannot identify which vehicle it is clocking. It only indicates a certain vehicle's rate of speed. Which vehicle? It's not certain. So I was going to ask the complaining officer about that at my trial. Since I was the last vehicle, I thought it was conceivable the lead vehicle was going 53, and I was going 38. I mailed my request for a trial the same day he gave me the ticket.
My court date was April 13, the day after Easter, and I prayed to G-d that the police officer would be on vacation. That's exactly what happened; he did not show up in court, and the judge dismissed my case as a result. One note: I obviously have not been to traffic court at the Skokie Courthouse in quite some time, thank G-d. (I took a traffic class instead of court in 2005 for 52 in a 30 in Arlington Heights.) In Skokie, if found guilty, the defendant must pay the ticket penalty ($75, or whatever the judge determines) plus $135 in court costs. So exercising one's constitutional right to a fair trial and the right to face one's accuser in a court of law can cost the losing defendant $135 on top of the ticket fee. So please, don't speed in the suburbs. It's just not worth it. Many times I've been tempted (and twice given in) to turning right on red from westbound Touhy to northbound McCormick. It's a stupid "No turn on red" with a clear view of northbound traffic. But it's not worth $210. Speeding on short trips only saves a few minutes; it's long-distance trips, like driving I-65 through Indiana, that speeding saves significant time. It's not a good reason to pay an optional tax and help Cook County keep its courthouses running. And another good reason: traffic court helps Cook County Board President Toddler Stroger's budget, too.
On Friday the 13th, I wasn't paying attention, and Officer Lincolnwood Speed Trap at McCormick and Albion clocked me doing 53 in a 40. I drive that stretch every day, and I still can't figure out how he was lying in wait. He was nice about me not having my insurance card; I explained that I had rented a vehicle earlier in the week and had not replaced my documents to the glove compartment like I should have. (That was true.) "Perfectly understandable," he said. He still gave me a $75 ticket. I thought I had a decent case. I was at the back of a convoy of vehicles. Did his radar gun say "Silver Honda Civic"? Of course not. It cannot identify which vehicle it is clocking. It only indicates a certain vehicle's rate of speed. Which vehicle? It's not certain. So I was going to ask the complaining officer about that at my trial. Since I was the last vehicle, I thought it was conceivable the lead vehicle was going 53, and I was going 38. I mailed my request for a trial the same day he gave me the ticket.
My court date was April 13, the day after Easter, and I prayed to G-d that the police officer would be on vacation. That's exactly what happened; he did not show up in court, and the judge dismissed my case as a result. One note: I obviously have not been to traffic court at the Skokie Courthouse in quite some time, thank G-d. (I took a traffic class instead of court in 2005 for 52 in a 30 in Arlington Heights.) In Skokie, if found guilty, the defendant must pay the ticket penalty ($75, or whatever the judge determines) plus $135 in court costs. So exercising one's constitutional right to a fair trial and the right to face one's accuser in a court of law can cost the losing defendant $135 on top of the ticket fee. So please, don't speed in the suburbs. It's just not worth it. Many times I've been tempted (and twice given in) to turning right on red from westbound Touhy to northbound McCormick. It's a stupid "No turn on red" with a clear view of northbound traffic. But it's not worth $210. Speeding on short trips only saves a few minutes; it's long-distance trips, like driving I-65 through Indiana, that speeding saves significant time. It's not a good reason to pay an optional tax and help Cook County keep its courthouses running. And another good reason: traffic court helps Cook County Board President Toddler Stroger's budget, too.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The stop sign debate continues
She feels sorry for my future kids?
When someone tells someone, “I feel sorry for your future children,” that’s typically taken as just about the worst thing someone can say to another—-that she thinks the person will be a horrible parent. So it came as a surprise when a close friend not only told me this, but did so in a public forum, in front of my 100+ Facebook friends. That was deeply hurtful. I did not say, “I believe in corporal punishment.” I did not say, “I don’t think children need seatbelts.” I did not even say, “I think tv’s in kids’ bedrooms slow kids’ mental growth.” I stated my opposition to stop signs on major streets, and repeated that opposition even if I were to have children. And for that she feels sorry for my future children?
That’s a serious charge, and I hope she reconsiders her sentiment. There is no evidence whatsoever that stop signs on major streets make the streets safer for children or pedestrians. I have given a number of reasons for my opposition to stop signs on major streets. I’ll reiterate them here:
1. They stop traffic for no good reason, wasting time and fuel and inflicting additional wear and tear on vehicles.
2. Slower traffic and stop signs on major streets encourage drivers to use side streets, where they are more likely to encounter pedestrians and children playing in the streets.
3. Illinois law already requires motorists to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. If police enforced this law, we wouldn’t need stop signs to help pedestrians cross major streets.
4. Municipalities often install stop signs to “protect” schools, parks and senior citizen homes that produce pedestrians just a few hours a day. For a school, this is just 180 days a year. Park visitors only use a park in good weather. The rest of the time, the sign stops traffic for no reason whatsoever. This sign that started this discussion is for a school, a whole quarter-mile away (5-min. walk, longer for little kids). No one disputes that the kids are out and using the crosswalk at Touhy just two hours a day on school days. The other 22 hours on school days (180 days), and 24 hours on non-school days, the stop sign stops traffic for…..? One friend suggested, Well, it’s easier to walk to Young Israel of West Rogers Park on shabbos. Yes, it is. And anyone who minds waiting a minute for traffic to stop is being very, very selfish.
5. There is simply no justification for a solitary stop sign within a nine-mile stretch (probably longer—I’ll need to check) of stop sign-free roadway. I’m sure angry residents in Lincolnwood and Morton Grove can come up with a long list of more deserving intersections. But I think there’s an understanding, which alderman have no compunction about violating, that major streets are not to be tampered with.
6. A single stop sign on a major street always draws demands from residents for additional stop signs on “their” intersections. I could give so many examples just off the top of my head of former fast thoroughfares now stop-and-go due to stop signs, just on the North Side alone: California Avenue, Halsted Street, Sheffield Avenue, Clark Street, Sheridan Road, Lawrence Avenue, Randolph Street and Broadway.
7. My friend who fears for my future children mentioned a fatality and “what-iffed” that a stop sign may have saved his life. This is one of those cause-effect relationships that seems logical but doesn’t really exist. Case study: Maya Hirsh obm. Maya was a little girl visiting Lincoln Park Zoo with her family a couple of years ago. As she crossed Cannon Drive, a crazed motorist ran a stop sign, killing her instantly. Authorities determined the driver to be mentally unsound and without a drivers license. (He was also Ald. Stone’s neighbor in Winston Towers.) The stop sign near the Lincoln Park Zoo entrance, which I think should only be in force during zoo hours, didn’t prevent the driver from killing Maya. Funny how drivers prone to vehicular homicide don’t pay too much attention to stop signs.
8. More stop signs reduce compliance among drivers. My friend who fears for my future children may not have visited West Rogers Park lately. The situation is out of control. Almost every intersection has a four-way stop sign. California, once free of stop signs, now has four in 12 blocks in addition to the three traffic lights in that stretch. A T-intersection has a stop sign despite the fact that the cross street that terminates at the intersection is one way “in,” meaning cross-traffic is impossible. (The stop sign “protects” a park.) Of the four high-rise towers on Kedzie Avenue, one inexplicably has a stop sign—the one the alderman lives in. Motorists give up and simply ignore them, making our streets less safe.
Authorities and communities can take sensible steps to make streets and intersections safer without inconveniencing all motorists and their passengers. Enforce crosswalks. Fence off or ban pedestrians from unsafe crossing areas—force them to walk to the nearest controlled intersection. (At Washtenaw, where the new stop sign is, stoplights are one block away in each direction.) Use new technology to highlight pedestrians in crosswalks so vehicles stop for them without forcing vehicles to stop 24-7. More 24-hr. traffic controls (stop signs and lights) are not the answer.
When someone tells someone, “I feel sorry for your future children,” that’s typically taken as just about the worst thing someone can say to another—-that she thinks the person will be a horrible parent. So it came as a surprise when a close friend not only told me this, but did so in a public forum, in front of my 100+ Facebook friends. That was deeply hurtful. I did not say, “I believe in corporal punishment.” I did not say, “I don’t think children need seatbelts.” I did not even say, “I think tv’s in kids’ bedrooms slow kids’ mental growth.” I stated my opposition to stop signs on major streets, and repeated that opposition even if I were to have children. And for that she feels sorry for my future children?
That’s a serious charge, and I hope she reconsiders her sentiment. There is no evidence whatsoever that stop signs on major streets make the streets safer for children or pedestrians. I have given a number of reasons for my opposition to stop signs on major streets. I’ll reiterate them here:
1. They stop traffic for no good reason, wasting time and fuel and inflicting additional wear and tear on vehicles.
2. Slower traffic and stop signs on major streets encourage drivers to use side streets, where they are more likely to encounter pedestrians and children playing in the streets.
3. Illinois law already requires motorists to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. If police enforced this law, we wouldn’t need stop signs to help pedestrians cross major streets.
4. Municipalities often install stop signs to “protect” schools, parks and senior citizen homes that produce pedestrians just a few hours a day. For a school, this is just 180 days a year. Park visitors only use a park in good weather. The rest of the time, the sign stops traffic for no reason whatsoever. This sign that started this discussion is for a school, a whole quarter-mile away (5-min. walk, longer for little kids). No one disputes that the kids are out and using the crosswalk at Touhy just two hours a day on school days. The other 22 hours on school days (180 days), and 24 hours on non-school days, the stop sign stops traffic for…..? One friend suggested, Well, it’s easier to walk to Young Israel of West Rogers Park on shabbos. Yes, it is. And anyone who minds waiting a minute for traffic to stop is being very, very selfish.
5. There is simply no justification for a solitary stop sign within a nine-mile stretch (probably longer—I’ll need to check) of stop sign-free roadway. I’m sure angry residents in Lincolnwood and Morton Grove can come up with a long list of more deserving intersections. But I think there’s an understanding, which alderman have no compunction about violating, that major streets are not to be tampered with.
6. A single stop sign on a major street always draws demands from residents for additional stop signs on “their” intersections. I could give so many examples just off the top of my head of former fast thoroughfares now stop-and-go due to stop signs, just on the North Side alone: California Avenue, Halsted Street, Sheffield Avenue, Clark Street, Sheridan Road, Lawrence Avenue, Randolph Street and Broadway.
7. My friend who fears for my future children mentioned a fatality and “what-iffed” that a stop sign may have saved his life. This is one of those cause-effect relationships that seems logical but doesn’t really exist. Case study: Maya Hirsh obm. Maya was a little girl visiting Lincoln Park Zoo with her family a couple of years ago. As she crossed Cannon Drive, a crazed motorist ran a stop sign, killing her instantly. Authorities determined the driver to be mentally unsound and without a drivers license. (He was also Ald. Stone’s neighbor in Winston Towers.) The stop sign near the Lincoln Park Zoo entrance, which I think should only be in force during zoo hours, didn’t prevent the driver from killing Maya. Funny how drivers prone to vehicular homicide don’t pay too much attention to stop signs.
8. More stop signs reduce compliance among drivers. My friend who fears for my future children may not have visited West Rogers Park lately. The situation is out of control. Almost every intersection has a four-way stop sign. California, once free of stop signs, now has four in 12 blocks in addition to the three traffic lights in that stretch. A T-intersection has a stop sign despite the fact that the cross street that terminates at the intersection is one way “in,” meaning cross-traffic is impossible. (The stop sign “protects” a park.) Of the four high-rise towers on Kedzie Avenue, one inexplicably has a stop sign—the one the alderman lives in. Motorists give up and simply ignore them, making our streets less safe.
Authorities and communities can take sensible steps to make streets and intersections safer without inconveniencing all motorists and their passengers. Enforce crosswalks. Fence off or ban pedestrians from unsafe crossing areas—force them to walk to the nearest controlled intersection. (At Washtenaw, where the new stop sign is, stoplights are one block away in each direction.) Use new technology to highlight pedestrians in crosswalks so vehicles stop for them without forcing vehicles to stop 24-7. More 24-hr. traffic controls (stop signs and lights) are not the answer.
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