By: Mark Glennon*
If you’re a regular driver on Chicago area expressways, you already know about superspeeders, as we should call them.
I’m not talking about drivers doing, say, 80 mph on a highway with a speed limit of 65 or 70. That’s common. I’m talking about those who fly past you even if you are going that fast, doing 90 or more.
At those speeds, cars are difficult or impossible to control. If you change lanes into their path, not seeing they are coming at that speed, let’s just say you’re lucky to be reading this. They are frightening under any circumstances, but late at night they make our expressways terrifying. It’s not just a problem in the city, but on the tollways and freeways throughout Chicagoland. The offenders, from what I can tell, are mostly white guys driving expensive cars.
They must be stopped.
Fatal crashes now are occurring at a higher rate than before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as the Chicago Tribune reported last month. We don’t have hard numbers on how much of that is due to superspeeders, but the stories sure seem to be adding up.
It wasn’t always this way. I’ve been driving Illinois expressways for 50 years and I never saw speeding this extreme or this flagrant. I think it started around 2020, and one person who agrees is Tom Weitzel, the former police chief of Riverside, Illinois.
Two things happened about then, as Weitzel told me. Thanks to Covid concerns plus the anti-police mentality that took hold then, cops “were instructed by their superiors to refrain from conducting routine traffic stops and only to target the worst offenders, which included DUIs and individuals driving recklessly. Consequently, criminals and average reckless drivers realized that law enforcement would not stop them, leading to a surge in reckless driving that has yet to subside.”
Motorists became accustomed to speeding and driving recklessly, Weitzel told me, often passing marked squad cars while police did nothing. Many police agencies recommended limited contact with the public.
“Although the height of the pandemic is over, the public still perceives that police are disinterested in traffic enforcement,” Weitzel said.
Enough of that. End it. Apprehend superspeeders and throw the book at them for reckless driving, endangerment and whatever else will lead to severe penalties. If state laws or local ordinances must be toughened to impose harsh penalties, change them.
“All police agencies must prioritize professional and aggressive traffic enforcement. Departments that have eliminated their traffic units due to staffing shortages should reinstate full-time traffic enforcement divisions, Weitzel told me. “We need to take control of our roadways. It is increasingly dangerous out there, as anyone driving in the metro Chicago area can attest. It’s time to resume active policing rather than sitting in parking lots watching cars go by.”
The task will fall initially on Illinois State Police. They are responsible for patrolling expressways in Chicago and other municipalities, though county and local police assist when needed. Prosecutors then must finish the job, getting convictions and harsh sentences. A publicity campaign by the state would help, too, maybe with signs on expressways saying no mercy for superspeeders.
Get the superspeeding jerks off our roads.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
This article was updated to delete some examples of recent accidents.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
I don’t believe people use the left lane for passing. I would say 90% of those in the left lane feel it is their private lane. If the speed limit is 70 & a person is doing 85, there is still the same group of drivers who want to do 95. It is still speeding & violating the law. They feel it’s fine until they see a Trooper, then hit the brakes. You have the speedsters who weave in & out of lanes at 90-100 mph. People rarely use turn signals in Illinois. The best is the Dan Ryan where… Read more »
“…I won’t move over to the next lane. Drivers will go around.”
We have our camper right here.
I might be considered a super speeder so I hope no one takes action on your suggestion, I generally do 80 around the City if that’s what traffic is doing but if I’m traveling to St Louis or Indy I will hover around 95, sometimes going 100+ when passing. I generally don’t tailgate, I don’t recklessly switch lanes and my driving record has been clean for 30+ years. The people going 60 in a 75 are the bigger danger, forcing trucks laden with cargo to hit the breaks or have to switch lanes to pass. Don’t get me started on… Read more »
Driving from Rockford area to Springfield to visit grandchildren using 90/39, 39 and 55 it’s a game we play to count the number of ISP patrols we see. Round trip of 400 miles the total is usually ZERO. Super speeders going 100+. Driving into Chicago using I90 a round trip the count is maybe 1 and the super speeders are running at 100 mph. It seems as tho when crossing the Fox River in the Elgin area towards Chicago the speed of many vehicles increases by 20 mph. Rarely see vehicles pulled over by police. The interstate highways are for… Read more »
It’s much like the repeal of Prohibition circa 1932. The police can’t be expected to realistically consistently enforce any law which is routinely ignored by the masses. While I’m not happy about traffic speeding I don’t fault the police. They are asked to enforce rules obviously against the will of the general public. It seems to be the case that whatever the speed limit on an expressway most will choose to go around 10 m.p.h. faster with progressively smaller numbers going even faster yet and meanwhile way to close to your rear bumper in heavy traffic. The mathematics of going… Read more »
Driving fast can be fun. In the right place. But I-90 is not Joliet, Talladega or Daytona speedway. The talent and experience of every driver is different and the public roads are for all. The speed and behavior laws help to level the driving field and make it safe for all people of all capabilities. Whether or not you happen to have a Pagani or 15 year old Camry does not matter. If you have one of these fabulous cars, congratulations, they are amazing. But take it to a track and be safe.
Lane discipline would alleviate some of your fears. If you want to drive slower, use the right lanes.
Thanks – Appreciate the condescending tutorial on lane selection, but we are all set here. Have a nice day.
You are certainly welcome. From your sarcastic gratitude, it sounds as if you need to learn it, live it, and love it…
Ok
I just figured most of these superspeeders have connections. Why else would the police allow them to go 50 percent over the speed limit? Obviously, these superspeeding incidents shouldn’t be allowed, since they make expressway driving much more dangerous for the rest of us.
I haven’t seen the “white guy” in a nice car doing the speeding on 294 or 88 as much as other groups. Especially on 294 at night – it is usually small dark cars with neon lights all around the bottom and they travel in groups. Frightening as they weave in and out of cars. Have to agree with the other comments that it would be great if people would get over to the right if they aren’t passing – it creates a potentially dangerous situation for everyone else when these cars jump lanes to pass the left lane piggy.
I drive an hour on the expressways (294, 88, 355) to babysit my granddaughter every week. I’m driving during peak rush hour and I still see these people driving like maniacs. It’s terrifying – and who has time to see who’s driving when they’re going nearly 100 mph.
Average rush hour speed on 355 is 8 mph. The ‘Super Speeders’ are doing…what? 10? 11?
No. Until every single “protester” is arrested when they impede foot or vehicle traffic every single time, my response to this is just…No.
Simple. Install speed cameras on the expressways, and as a previous poster stated, punish extreme speed like a DUI. It will stop.
In Chicago, it’s clear why CPD is reluctant to pull any one over for traffic infractions. The moment they do, scores of “concerned citizens” gather around with their cell phones recording and sometimes taunting LEOs. No good deed goes unpunished here. This coupled with a hiring freeze devolves into police staying in their car more patrolling and exiting only when they absolutely have to. Direct consequence of a Mayor who devalues police and policing for public safety.
Keep in mind that state police, not city, are responsible for the expressways. That was agreed to as part of a deal back in Harold Washington administration.
Correct on what was a simple financial deal. When the Illinois lottery came in, during Harold Washington’s first term, Harold would not let the lottery terminals into City locations without getting something from Jim Thompson. So the deal they cut was that the State Police would take over patrolling the interstates within the City of Chicago borders (to save the CPD a lot of money), and Harold would allow lottery tickets to be sold within the City boundaries. Within a very short time you could notice police presence on the interstates dropped off significantly because there was no agreement as… Read more »
Same thing happened in Detroit back during the reign of Coleman Young the Terrible. Yep, Detroit Police stepped down and the Michigan State Police now patrol Detroit’s freeways.
Three words: law and order.
Ok, Mark. We know that speed can kill. So can slow. You can cite and fine the super speeders if, and only if, the left lane laggards are similarly cited and fined. Dear readers, are you a left lane laggard? This situation may indicate in the affirmative: If you find yourself trotting along in the left lane and you see a long line of cars on your bumper (many of them flashing their brights) and/or cars passing in one of the lanes to your right and you don’t move over, YOU are the problem. More helpful hints: If you slug… Read more »
Yes, yes, yes! Camp in the woods and not in the left lane. I totally agree that they are a hazard, too. It’s called lane discipline. In Germany and Austria they have impeccable lane discipline, which makes things so much better and allows for faster speed limits. Indiana will give you a ticket for driving I the left lane if you aren’t passing somebody, but Wisconsin drivers are the worst. They do it routinely, sometimes even truckers there, who should know better.
I lived in Germany for ten years and routinely drove at triple digit speeds. The idea that cars suddenly become uncontrollable at 90mph is just absurd. The problem is typically the difference in speed rather than the speed itself. If I’m doing 80 and somebody passes me doing 90, it’s really not a big deal. If I’m doing 50, and not paying good enough attention to my mirrors to properly judge the speed of a car approaching at 90, that’s a bigger problem for all of us. But my experience of driving in the USA is that speeders in and… Read more »
Not absurd that you can lose control. Those German cars are made for that and have particularly good handling. Not so for many other cars. I was driving about 78 in an Acura RDX not long ago had to swerve to avoid somebody who cut in front of me. Almost lost control. You can feel fine zooming along while straight, but many cars won’t handle a sudden hard turn at high speeds.
“…somebody…cut in front of me.”
There’s the rub. Even a Lamborghini Huracan will flip and roll if the center of gravity is tested too far. An obnoxious dawdling lout failing to check if the lane they wished to inhabit and doing so in the face of a vehicle running at ‘track speed’ was the real cause of that near miss incident. This type of jackpot can happen at 35 mph, much less 78.
Still, the risk of losing control of a vehicle increases exponentially with speed, not linearly. Lots of research showing that. I dwell on this only because I think lots of people don’t understand that, and they overestimate their ability to control a vehicle at high speeds.
Two things have distorted drivers’ perception on that. One is vehicle design. You wouldn’t want to be rocketing along in your 1967 Bonneville due to the soft suspension and nebulous steering. A Toyota Camry has a more tuned suspension than any of the old land yachts and will give a driver more confidence that the car will hold the road even when testing the center of gravity. Frankly modern cars are better in this regard, but are subject to the same laws of physics. The other is video games. Cars don’t really behave as they do in Grand Theft Auto… Read more »
It’s worse than you think Bella and thanks to Dems anybody can drive on public highways without any vetting. Millions of illegals for example.
In Virginia any speed over 80 mph is considered reckless driving and the penalties are the similar to getting a DUI. IF Illinois were to pass such a law, it might help, until they saw the statistics that minorities were being cited at a rate greater than their representation in the population. And to encourage politicians in this area, just thing of the revenues that can be raised thru fines, not to mention the money raised thru corruption to avoid these tickets!
You know, I feel the same way about illegal immigrants. The desperate ones sneaking across the border to find work, just slap on the wrist and send them back if you come across them, no need to get ruthless. The ones committing felonies, bring the hammer down.
I submitted a comment that was not published. Why? It was a reasonable explanation of why many people speed.
Hmm. Nothing has been deleted today and there is nothing with your name on it in spam or trash folders.
It was “pending approval” so must have gotten lost. I resubmitted under EMS and it is published.
Just fyi, because I think you are fairly new here, all comments are held pending approval. Somebody here tries to get to them at least every few hours.
I generally travel the speed of traffic on the Jane Addams in the 3rd lane which is usually 70-80mph. Now add to the superspeeder (daytime & nigttime) problem, the semis and “B” plated vehicles travelling across all lanes on the Jane Addams now, just like the Tri-State. Since Covid, the only time I see the ISP or Sherrif’s Police is if they are responding to an emergency, never for traffic control. It was bad enough during Covid when the roads were pretty much wide open as people stayed home. But that time is over and the once open roads are… Read more »
Speeders, carjackers, and other criminals know they won’t be chased because police seldom engage in high-speed pursuit. The faster they go the less likelihood of being caught. Police chases can result in innocent people getting injured or killed and expensive lawsuits so are not authorized.
I have been driving in the Chicago area for only 40 years. For most of that time, my work required me to drive a lot. My experiences are different. More often than not, I got stuck in traffic, and the best that speedy drivers could do was to drive on the shoulder. I saw them more often than I would expect to be caught by the police. During off-peak hours, when driving on a highway for about 20 minutes or more, I almost always encounter someone driving recklessly. Driving on weekend nights often boils down to avoiding vehicles that are… Read more »
Though I’m no defender of the extreme speed demons, this is simply not true of many or most modern cars: “…doing 90 or more. At those speeds, cars are difficult or impossible to control.” Though I’ll agree that the evening weekend speeder on the Edens, especially those traveling into the City … well, those folks could stand to be be pulled over and ticketed. And yes, changing lanes in front of these folks can be tricky. A person does need to keep an eye out.
On the rare occasions we return to Illinois I can tell when we’re close to the state without looking at the mileage or welcome signs. When we’re on the various interstates and cars start zinging in and out of lanes with no signals and zoom past us a good 10 – 15 MPH faster than we’re going, I know we’re close. A check of the license plates of said offenders confirms yup, we’re getting really close to Illinois! The offenders, from what I can tell, are mostly white guys driving expensive cars. Not what I see my friend. Equal opportunity… Read more »
On the news within the past few days, I’ve seen reports of reckless driving resulting in death and injuries from other areas as well. A while back, I was traveling south on IL 47 ( a one lane each direction road ) when a young man, in an orange Lamborghini with an Indian flag decal on his side window, saw fit to continually get into the oncoming traffic lane at a high rate of speed and then squeeze his way back into our lane, other drivers be damned. I really think some of these nitwits think that they are playing… Read more »
So 80 in a 65 is ok but 90 is awful and requires throwing the book them. If 80 is common you are going to have 90 sprinkled in.