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.
Showing posts with label traffic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traffic. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, November 10, 2008
New stoplight at 2300 W Irving Park Rd
Driving to Lakeview on the 30th, I noticed a new stoplight ready to go online at Irving Park Road and Oakley Avenue, halfway between Western Avenue and Leavitt Street.
Sitting and sputtering along at about 6 mph on eastbound Irving Park that night, I can say with absolute confidence the last thing Irving Park needs is yet another stoplight. Irving Park tends to be heavily congested between its Kennedy Expressway ramps (at Pulaski) and Lake Shore Drive, and often for several miles west of the Kennedy as well. It’s bad for everyone except residents of Oakley Avenue who want to turn left. So thousands of motorists, truckers and bus riders are stopped daily for the convenience of a few.
This is so Chicago. I haven’t been able to track down online the approximate cost of a stoplight installation, but my guess is it is around $100,000 or more. In Chicago, this usually involves three or four posts into the ground, plus the overhead arms.
Having lived in Chicago for more than a decade, I have long decried the explosion of stop-sign installations as they sprout like weeds. Every excuse—a school (kids), a park (kids), a condo complex (old people)—is used, regardless of the actual number of pedestrians. The alderman signs off on the petition, and there’s another 24-hour traffic stop. There are several intersections in Chicago—either T-intersections or bizarre one-way configurations—in which cross-traffic is impossible. So the stop sign is there just for fun or just for the convenience of the occasional pedestrian. If you don’t believe me, I can show you in Rogers Park and the Gold Coast, respectively, these intersections.
2
w
STOP a
(A park is here.) y>>>>One way east>>>>>>>>
t STOP
r
a Fig. 1. A T-intersection with a worthless stop sign.
f
f
i
c
2
w
STOP a
<<<< 1-way west < >>>>One way east>>>>>>>>
y STOP
t
r
a Fig. 2. An intersection with no cross-flow traffic
f and a stop sign.
f
i
c
With the massive increase in vehicles and miles driven in Chicago over the past several years, we need fewer traffic controls, not more. I’m not suggesting uncontrolled intersections, like in Lincolnwood. I’m suggesting far fewer four-way stop signs. Let drivers drive! If an intersection doesn’t warrant a traffic signal, remove it and post stop signs at the minor street so the major-street traffic can continue in peace. If kids are crossing the street for a park or a school, then install an electric stop sign activated either by a timer or a janitor. There’s no reason hundreds of Metra commuters driving eastbound on Lunt to the Rogers Park train station at 6:30am in December need to screech to a complete stop for a playground used after school and on weekends when it’s nice out. (There are two of those on Lunt: near Western and near Ridge.) For one driver on one day, it’s no big deal. But the cumulative effect is thousands of dollars lost in time, gasoline and brake decay over the course of a year.
Part of the problem in Chicago is that no one pays attention to crosswalks. If police aggressively ticketed crosswalk violators—and CPD has tried enforcement zones recently—there would be no need for the flurry of stop signs, and “No Turn on Red 7am-7pm” could change to “Turning vehicles yield to pedestrians.” So much friendlier, so much time and gas saved.
Two other complaints about commuting in Chicago:
1. Chicago has no “Yield” signs. They would make slowing for an intersection legal; that’s what most people do at stop signs anyway. There are so many stop signs now they are no longer taken seriously.
2. At intersections with sparse late-night cross traffic, let the signals flash yellow on the major street and red on the minor street 11pm-6am. How much gasoline is wasted sitting at lights with no traffic? It’s outrageous.
Major Chicago streets that were once pleasant thoroughfares with lights every half-mile or so have become stop-sign minefields:
1. Sheffield Avenue
2. Halsted Street
3. Clark Street (the Grace and School signs back up traffic for blocks)
4. Sheridan Road
5. Inner Lake Shore Drive between West Sheridan Road and Belmont Avenue
6. California Avenue
7. Diversey Avenue
8. Randolph Street
9. Lake Street
10. Broadway (that Melrose stop sign is a killer)
Sitting and sputtering along at about 6 mph on eastbound Irving Park that night, I can say with absolute confidence the last thing Irving Park needs is yet another stoplight. Irving Park tends to be heavily congested between its Kennedy Expressway ramps (at Pulaski) and Lake Shore Drive, and often for several miles west of the Kennedy as well. It’s bad for everyone except residents of Oakley Avenue who want to turn left. So thousands of motorists, truckers and bus riders are stopped daily for the convenience of a few.
This is so Chicago. I haven’t been able to track down online the approximate cost of a stoplight installation, but my guess is it is around $100,000 or more. In Chicago, this usually involves three or four posts into the ground, plus the overhead arms.
Having lived in Chicago for more than a decade, I have long decried the explosion of stop-sign installations as they sprout like weeds. Every excuse—a school (kids), a park (kids), a condo complex (old people)—is used, regardless of the actual number of pedestrians. The alderman signs off on the petition, and there’s another 24-hour traffic stop. There are several intersections in Chicago—either T-intersections or bizarre one-way configurations—in which cross-traffic is impossible. So the stop sign is there just for fun or just for the convenience of the occasional pedestrian. If you don’t believe me, I can show you in Rogers Park and the Gold Coast, respectively, these intersections.
2
w
STOP a
(A park is here.) y>>>>One way east>>>>>>>>
t STOP
r
a Fig. 1. A T-intersection with a worthless stop sign.
f
f
i
c
2
w
STOP a
<<<< 1-way west < >>>>One way east>>>>>>>>
y STOP
t
r
a Fig. 2. An intersection with no cross-flow traffic
f and a stop sign.
f
i
c
With the massive increase in vehicles and miles driven in Chicago over the past several years, we need fewer traffic controls, not more. I’m not suggesting uncontrolled intersections, like in Lincolnwood. I’m suggesting far fewer four-way stop signs. Let drivers drive! If an intersection doesn’t warrant a traffic signal, remove it and post stop signs at the minor street so the major-street traffic can continue in peace. If kids are crossing the street for a park or a school, then install an electric stop sign activated either by a timer or a janitor. There’s no reason hundreds of Metra commuters driving eastbound on Lunt to the Rogers Park train station at 6:30am in December need to screech to a complete stop for a playground used after school and on weekends when it’s nice out. (There are two of those on Lunt: near Western and near Ridge.) For one driver on one day, it’s no big deal. But the cumulative effect is thousands of dollars lost in time, gasoline and brake decay over the course of a year.
Part of the problem in Chicago is that no one pays attention to crosswalks. If police aggressively ticketed crosswalk violators—and CPD has tried enforcement zones recently—there would be no need for the flurry of stop signs, and “No Turn on Red 7am-7pm” could change to “Turning vehicles yield to pedestrians.” So much friendlier, so much time and gas saved.
Two other complaints about commuting in Chicago:
1. Chicago has no “Yield” signs. They would make slowing for an intersection legal; that’s what most people do at stop signs anyway. There are so many stop signs now they are no longer taken seriously.
2. At intersections with sparse late-night cross traffic, let the signals flash yellow on the major street and red on the minor street 11pm-6am. How much gasoline is wasted sitting at lights with no traffic? It’s outrageous.
Major Chicago streets that were once pleasant thoroughfares with lights every half-mile or so have become stop-sign minefields:
1. Sheffield Avenue
2. Halsted Street
3. Clark Street (the Grace and School signs back up traffic for blocks)
4. Sheridan Road
5. Inner Lake Shore Drive between West Sheridan Road and Belmont Avenue
6. California Avenue
7. Diversey Avenue
8. Randolph Street
9. Lake Street
10. Broadway (that Melrose stop sign is a killer)
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