Full Text of SB1989 95th General Assembly
SB1989 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008 SB1989
Introduced 2/7/2008, by Sen. Don Harmon SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Makes a technical change in a Section
concerning automated railroad grade crossing
enforcement systems.
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A BILL FOR
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SB1989 |
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LRB095 17526 WGH 43600 b |
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| AN ACT concerning transportation.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | 3 |
| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing | 5 |
| Section 11-1201.1 as follows:
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| (625 ILCS 5/11-1201.1)
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| Sec. 11-1201.1. Automated Railroad Crossing Enforcement | 8 |
| System Pilot Project.
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| (a) For the
the purposes of this Section, an automated | 10 |
| railroad grade crossing
enforcement system is a system operated | 11 |
| by a law enforcement agency that
records a driver's response to | 12 |
| automatic, electrical or mechanical signal
devices and | 13 |
| crossing gates. The system shall be designed to obtain a clear
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| photograph or other recorded image of the vehicle, vehicle | 15 |
| operator and the
vehicle registration plate of a vehicle in | 16 |
| violation of Section 11-1201. The
photograph or other recorded | 17 |
| image shall also display the time, date and
location of the | 18 |
| violation. | 19 |
| (b) Commencing on January 1, 1996, the Illinois Commerce | 20 |
| Commission and
the Commuter Rail Board of the Regional | 21 |
| Transportation Authority shall, in
cooperation with local law | 22 |
| enforcement agencies, establish a 5 year pilot
program within a | 23 |
| county with a population of between 750,000 and
1,000,000 using |
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LRB095 17526 WGH 43600 b |
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| an automated railroad grade crossing enforcement system. The
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| Commission shall determine the 3 railroad grade crossings | 3 |
| within that county
that pose the greatest threat to human life | 4 |
| based upon the number of accidents
and fatalities at the | 5 |
| crossings during the past 5 years and with approval of
the | 6 |
| local law enforcement agency equip the crossings with an | 7 |
| automated railroad
grade crossing enforcement system.
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| (b-1) Commencing on July 20, 2001 (the effective date of | 9 |
| Public Act
92-98), the Illinois
Commerce Commission and the | 10 |
| Commuter Rail Board may, in cooperation with the
local law | 11 |
| enforcement agency, establish in a county with a population of
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| between 750,000 and 1,000,000 a 2 year pilot program using an | 13 |
| automated
railroad grade crossing enforcement system. This | 14 |
| pilot program may be
established at a railroad grade crossing | 15 |
| designated by local authorities.
No State moneys may be | 16 |
| expended on the automated railroad grade crossing
enforcement | 17 |
| system established under this pilot program.
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| (c) For each violation of Section 11-1201 recorded by an | 19 |
| automatic
railroad grade crossing system, the local law | 20 |
| enforcement agency having
jurisdiction shall issue a written | 21 |
| Uniform Traffic Citation of the violation
to the registered | 22 |
| owner of the vehicle as the alleged violator. The Uniform
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| Traffic Citation shall be delivered to the registered owner of | 24 |
| the vehicle,
by mail, within 30 days of the violation. The | 25 |
| Uniform Traffic Citation shall
include the name and address of | 26 |
| vehicle owner, the vehicle registration number,
the offense |
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| charged, the time, date, and location of the violation, the | 2 |
| first
available court date and that the basis of the citation | 3 |
| is the photograph or
other recorded image from the automated | 4 |
| railroad grade crossing enforcement
system.
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| (d) The Uniform Traffic Citation issued to the registered | 6 |
| owner of the
vehicle shall be accompanied by a written notice, | 7 |
| the contents of which is set
forth in subsection (d-1) of this | 8 |
| Section, explaining how the registered owner
of the vehicle can | 9 |
| elect to proceed by either paying the fine or challenging
the | 10 |
| issuance of the Uniform Traffic Citation.
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| (d-1) The written notice explaining the alleged violator's | 12 |
| rights and
obligations must include the following text:
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| "You have been served with the accompanying Uniform Traffic
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| Citation and cited with having violated Section 11-1201 of the
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| Illinois Vehicle Code. You
can elect to proceed by:
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| 1. Paying the fine; or
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| 2. Challenging the issuance of the Uniform Traffic
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| Citation in court; or
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| 3. If you were not the operator of the vehicle at the | 20 |
| time of the alleged
offense, notifying in writing the local
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| law enforcement agency that issued the
Uniform Traffic | 22 |
| Citation of the number of the Uniform Traffic Citation | 23 |
| received
and the name and address of the person operating | 24 |
| the vehicle at the time of the
alleged offense. If you fail | 25 |
| to so notify in writing the local law enforcement
agency of | 26 |
| the name and address of the operator of the vehicle at the |
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| time of
the alleged offense, you may be presumed to have | 2 |
| been the operator of the
vehicle at the time of the alleged | 3 |
| offense."
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| (d-2) If the registered owner of the vehicle was not the | 5 |
| operator of the
vehicle at the time of the alleged offense, and | 6 |
| if the registered owner
notifies the local law enforcement | 7 |
| agency having jurisdiction of the name and
address of the | 8 |
| operator of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offense, the
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| local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction shall then | 10 |
| issue a written
Uniform Traffic Citation to the person alleged | 11 |
| by the registered owner to have
been the operator of the | 12 |
| vehicle at the time of the alleged offense. If the
registered | 13 |
| owner fails to notify in writing the local law enforcement | 14 |
| agency
having jurisdiction of the name and address of the | 15 |
| operator of the vehicle at
the time of the alleged offense, the | 16 |
| registered owner may be presumed to have
been the operator of | 17 |
| the vehicle at the time of the alleged offense.
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| (e) Evidence.
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| (i) A certificate alleging that a violation of Section | 20 |
| 11-1201
occurred, sworn to or affirmed by a duly authorized | 21 |
| agency, based on inspection
of recorded images produced by | 22 |
| an automated railroad crossing enforcement
system are | 23 |
| evidence of the facts contained in the certificate and are
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| admissible in any proceeding alleging a violation under | 25 |
| this Section.
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| (ii) Photographs or recorded images made by an |
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| automatic railroad
grade crossing enforcement system are | 2 |
| confidential and shall be made
available only to the | 3 |
| alleged violator and governmental and law
enforcement | 4 |
| agencies for purposes of adjudicating a violation of | 5 |
| Section
11-1201 of the Illinois Vehicle Code. The | 6 |
| photographs may also be made available to governmental | 7 |
| agencies for the purpose of a safety analysis of the | 8 |
| crossing where the automatic railroad grade crossing | 9 |
| enforcement system is installed. However, any photograph | 10 |
| or other
recorded image evidencing a violation of Section | 11 |
| 11-1201 shall be
admissible in any proceeding resulting | 12 |
| from the issuance of
the Uniform Traffic Citation when | 13 |
| there is reasonable and sufficient proof of
the accuracy of | 14 |
| the camera or electronic instrument recording the image.
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| There is a rebuttable presumption that the photograph or | 16 |
| recorded image is
accurate if the camera or electronic | 17 |
| recording instrument
was in good working order at the | 18 |
| beginning and the end of the day of the
alleged offense.
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| (f) Rail crossings equipped with an automatic railroad | 20 |
| grade crossing
enforcement system shall be posted with a sign | 21 |
| visible to approaching traffic
stating that the railroad grade | 22 |
| crossing is being monitored, that citations
will be issued, and | 23 |
| the amount of the fine for violation.
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| (g) Except as provided in subsection (b-1), the cost of the | 25 |
| installation
and maintenance of each automatic railroad grade | 26 |
| crossing enforcement system
shall be paid from the Grade |
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| Crossing Protection Fund if the rail line is not
owned by | 2 |
| Commuter Rail Board of the Regional Transportation Authority. | 3 |
| Except
as provided in subsection (b-1), if the rail line is | 4 |
| owned by the Commuter Rail
Board of the Regional Transportation | 5 |
| Authority, the costs of the installation
and maintenance shall | 6 |
| be paid from the Regional Transportation Authority's
portion of | 7 |
| the Public Transportation Fund.
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| (h) The Illinois Commerce Commission shall issue a report | 9 |
| to the General
Assembly at the conclusion of the 5 year pilot | 10 |
| program established under
subsection (b) on the effectiveness | 11 |
| of the automatic railroad grade crossing
enforcement system.
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| (i) If any part or parts of this Section are held by a | 13 |
| court of competent
jurisdiction to be unconstitutional, the | 14 |
| unconstitutionality shall not affect
the validity of the | 15 |
| remaining parts of this Section. The General Assembly
hereby | 16 |
| declares that it would have passed the remaining parts of this | 17 |
| Section
if it had known that the other part or parts of this | 18 |
| Section would be declared
unconstitutional.
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| (j) Penalty.
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| (i) A violation of this Section is a petty offense for | 21 |
| which a fine of
$250 shall be imposed for a first | 22 |
| violation, and a fine of $500 shall be
imposed for a second | 23 |
| or subsequent violation. The court may impose 25 hours
of | 24 |
| community service in place of the $250 fine for the first | 25 |
| violation.
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| (ii) For a second or subsequent violation, the |
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| Secretary of State may
suspend the registration of the | 2 |
| motor vehicle for a period of at least 6
months.
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| (Source: P.A. 94-771, eff. 1-1-07.)
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