Illinois State Police covering the Peoria area say they’ve seen a major increase in the number of people speeding on the state’s roadways.
ISP District 8 Sergeant Dustin Pierce says more than 23-hundred citations have been issued in the area so far this year. That’s up about 530 tickets from the same time last year.
Pierce says there’s not a definitive reason for the increase. But he says confusion about the new 70-mile per hour speed limit on state highways could be a factor.
“The only speed limit raised was on interstates and it’s not even on all interstates because there’s some locations…for example, going through Peoria and East Peoria on Interstate 74, it’s 55-miles an hour there. It’s not going to change. That’s still going to be 55-miles an hour. Motorists need to be paying attention to the speed limit signs. And it did not change on two-lane roads or in cities, so they need to follow whatever the posted speed limit is.”
Pierce says the fines for speeding tickets begin at 120 dollars. The cost for speeding in a construction zone is 375-dollars.