Fines seem to work where logic fails

Consider yourselves warned.

They can be lurking in white vans, parked around a bend or tucked behind the tollbooth ready to jump out at anytime.

There are more ways to catch speeders and seat-belt scofflaws than ever.

We know it's frustrating.

We know you're in a hurry.

And we know it doesn't seem fair to get a ticket via certified mail or from a trooper who chases you down an exit ramp on foot.

We also know that it seems to work.

Since the Illinois Department of Transportation ratcheted up its construction zone safety effort in 2004, fatalities have dropped nearly 30 percent. There were 44 work zone deaths in 2003, five of them construction workers. In 2008, that number fell to 31 deaths including two workers.

As this road construction season ramps up, keep these facts in mind while you slowly follow flaggers and make your way around orange cones.

Similarly, since police were granted the power to stop drivers simply because they were not buckled, more people wear seat belts and the number of fatalities has dropped, Illinois Department of Transportation reports. Before 2003, seat belt laws could only be enforced if a motorist was pulled over for another reason.

State troopers continue to get more aggressive in the effort to enforce the seat belt law. In 2006, troopers issued 214 seat belt tickets on Illinois toll roads over the four days of Memorial Day weekend. This year, that number climbed to 718 tickets with a $55 fine. One reason for the increase is because police keep finding new ways to catch scofflaws.

In addition, more than 7,000 speeding tickets have been issued via mail since 2006 when state police started using photo speed enforcement in construction zones.

While we have our reservations about using cameras to catch red-light runners and speeders, troopers under the cover of a white van can observe and ticket speeding vehicles without pulling them over. Unbeknown to the driver, police can write the ticket and deliver it via certified mail. That's a $375 fine the first time, $1,000 fine the second time and losing your license for the third offense.

These are tough punishments in a system that doesn't even require the motorist and officer to meet face-to-face.

Yet, based on statistics, they seem to work. And it's the law of the land. Those kinds of fines - and the frequent signs that remind motorists of the cost of speeding - should give anyone pause before hitting the gas in a work zone.

Saving lives should be reason enough to slow down and wear a seat belt or slow down.

Unfortunately, it's not.