The Illinois General Assembly has recently amended the state’s Vehicle Code to permit municipalities to use automated speed enforcement systems in safety zones. The new law will be effective on July 1, 2012.
The Code defines a safety zone as an area within a one-eighth-mile radius of an educational facility or a recreational facility owned by a park district. Within this radius, municipalities will be able to install systems that automatically record the speed of a vehicle violating the speed limit and that capture images of the vehicle and the vehicle’s license plate. The municipality will have up to 90 days after the violation to issue a written notice to the offending driver.
Violators will be subject to a maximum fine of $100, plus another $100 for failure to pay the initial fine on time. However, no penalty will apply if the vehicle’s recorded speed was not more than five miles per hour over the legal limit. A municipality must use the proceeds from these fines for specified civic purposes, such as initiatives to improve pedestrian and traffic safety.
Images captured by the new automated speed enforcement systems will be confidential and available only to governmental and law enforcement agencies for specified purposes. Violations under the amended section of the Vehicle Code will not be considered moving violations and may not affect the driving record of the vehicle’s owner.
(Source: Illinois Bar Journal, April 2012, Vol. 100)