Andrade Advances Legislation Protecting Highway Construction Workers

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Vowing to make construction zones safer for workers and motorists, state Rep. Jaime Andrade, D-Chicago, advanced legislation to better enforce work zone speed limits with automated camera equipment.

“When some motorists drive recklessly in construction zones, it creates a dangerous and potentially deadly situation for workers and responsible drivers alike,” Andrade said. “It’s unacceptable that hundreds of people have died over the past few years, because we couldn’t protect them and enforce our speeding laws. This legislation resolves the enforcement issues and answers the questions around the operation of these speed camera tools. While moving this bill out of committee is an important step, we’ve got more work to do in the House and Senate to make this commonsense piece of legislation the law of the land.”

Andrade is working to pass House Bill 5304 which will make work zones safer by establishing automated traffic control systems that detect speeds in excess of a work zone speed limit while and outlines potential consequences for violating the speed limit postings. The bill also addresses the constitutionality of the use of these cameras such as limiting the use of photo and video evidence and providing means for addressing false violations.

House Bill 5304 passed out of the Transportation: Vehicles & Safety Committee on Wednesday, April 3.

Andrade has long prioritized vehicle safety. House Bill 3607 tackles the problem of carjackers using high tech tools to circumvent key fob security measures. He also sponsored House Bill 4451 which dedicates 10 percent of the total amount of fines a speed enforcement camera accumulates to for a park or school in the safety zone in which the automated speed enforcement camera is located.