SB2900 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB098 15080 MLW 50044 b

98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
SB2900

Introduced 2/4/2014, by Sen. Dan Duffy

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

625 ILCS 5/11-605.1

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Requires construction or maintenance zone speed limit signs to be equipped with flashing yellow lights that are in operation while workers are present in the construction or maintenance zone. Provides that special speed limits for construction and maintenance zones shall only be in effect when workers are present and flashing yellow lights indicating the presence of workers are in operation.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning transportation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing Section 11-605.1 as follows:

(625 ILCS 5/11-605.1)

Sec. 11-605.1. Special limit while traveling through a highway construction or maintenance speed zone.

(a) A person may not operate a motor vehicle in a construction or maintenance speed zone at a speed in excess of the posted speed limit when workers are present and flashing yellow lights are in operation.

(a-5) (Blank) A person may not operate a motor vehicle in a construction or maintenance speed zone at a speed in excess of the posted speed limit when workers are not present.

(b) Nothing in this Chapter prohibits the use of electronic speed-detecting devices within 500 feet of signs within a construction or maintenance speed zone indicating the zone, as defined in this Section, nor shall evidence obtained by use of those devices be inadmissible in any prosecution for speeding, provided the use of the device shall apply only to the enforcement of the speed limit in the construction or maintenance speed zone.

(c) As used in this Section, a "construction or maintenance speed zone" is an area in which the Department, Toll Highway Authority, or local agency has posted signage advising drivers that a construction or maintenance speed zone is being approached, or in which the Department, Authority, or local agency has posted a lower speed limit with a highway construction or maintenance speed zone special speed limit sign after determining that the preexisting established speed limit through a highway construction or maintenance project is greater than is reasonable or safe with respect to the conditions expected to exist in the construction or maintenance speed zone.

If it is determined that the preexisting established speed limit is safe with respect to the conditions expected to exist in the construction or maintenance speed zone, additional speed limit signs which conform to the requirements of this subsection (c) shall be posted.

Highway construction or maintenance speed zone special speed limit signs shall be of a design approved by the Department. The signs must give proper due warning that a construction or maintenance speed zone is being approached and must indicate the maximum speed limit in effect. These signs shall be affixed with flashing yellow lights that are in operation while workers are present in the construction or maintenance speed zone. The signs also must state the amount of the minimum fine for a violation.

(d) A first violation of this Section is a petty offense with a minimum fine of $250. A second or subsequent violation of this Section is a petty offense with a minimum fine of $750.

(e) If a fine for a violation of this Section is $250 or greater, the person who violated this Section shall be charged an additional $125, which shall be deposited into the Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund in the State treasury, unless (i) the violation occurred on a highway other than an interstate highway and (ii) a county police officer wrote the ticket for the violation, in which case the $125 shall be deposited into that county's Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund. In the case of a second or subsequent violation of this Section, if the fine is $750 or greater, the person who violated this Section shall be charged an additional $250, which shall be deposited into the Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund in the State treasury, unless (i) the violation occurred on a highway other than an interstate highway and (ii) a county police officer wrote the ticket for the violation, in which case the $250 shall be deposited into that county's Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund.

(e-5) The Department of State Police and the local county police department have concurrent jurisdiction over any violation of this Section that occurs on an interstate highway.

(f) The Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund, which was created by Public Act 92-619, shall continue to be a special fund in the State treasury. Subject to appropriation by the General Assembly and approval by the Secretary, the Secretary of Transportation shall use all moneys in the Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund to hire off-duty Department of State Police officers to monitor construction or maintenance zones.

(f-5) Each county shall create a Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund. The county shall use all moneys in its Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund to hire off-duty county police officers to monitor construction or maintenance zones in that county on highways other than interstate highways.

(g) For a second or subsequent violation of this Section within 2 years of the date of the previous violation, the Secretary of State shall suspend the driver's license of the violator for a period of 90 days. This suspension shall only be imposed if the current violation of this Section and at least one prior violation of this Section occurred during a period when workers were present in the construction or maintenance zone.

(Source: P.A. 97-830, eff. 1-1-13; 98-337, eff. 1-1-14.)