Illinois lawmakers may focus speed-cams on the MLK Bridge
By Kevin McDermott
Post-Dispatch Springfield Bureau
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois legislators in the next week could pass a measure that would see speed-enforcement cameras installed on the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge.
The sometimes-controversial process automatically snaps pictures of cars that are violating the speed limit, and the owners later get their speeding ticket in the mail (based on the license number in the photo.) It’s in use, or being discussed, in other parts of the state. The MLK Bridge was targeted because of the high traffic fatality rate there, including six deaths in the last few weeks of 2008.
“The Martin Luther King Bridge has one of the highest accident rates in the state,” state Rep. Dan Beiser, D-Alton, one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a written statement. “Since police cannot monitor drivers’ speed while on the mile-long bridge, these cameras will hopefully be a clear reminder that lives are at stake.”
The bill passed an Illinois House committee Wednesday and could hit the House floor for a final vote between now and the end of next week, when the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn. It has already passed the state Senate.
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