Crackdown on drivers who idle waiting for pickups at O'Hare is not being enforced
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A crackdown was supposed to start this year, fining drivers who park on the shoulder to wait before pickups at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Cameras were supposed to be installed under a new Illinois state law that just went into effect. But it turns out the law is not being enforced — and email exchanges with state agencies uncovered that the cameras were never even installed in the first place.
Drivers who park on the shoulder on Interstate 190 near O'Hare typically take off if a Chicago Police officer pulls up behind them — knowing they're in the wrong. But there was a call for a different means of enforcement.
"It's very annoying, and it's dangerous," said Marzena Muszanska, who drives customers to and from O'Hare daily.
Muszanska and Illinois state Rep. Brad Stephens (R-Rosemont) want drivers who idle on the side of the road fined.
"It's sort of a needle joke with my 9- and 12-year-old, that, 'Dad, look at favorite thing,'" Stephens said.
Stephens worked to put the new law — the O'Hare Driver Safety Act — into effect earlier this month.
Under the law, drivers may not stop or park on the shoulder of a highway, ramps, or a road 2 miles around O'Hare. A network of cameras would capture license plates of drivers idling and send them $100 fines.
The current law allows Illinois State Police and the Illinois Tollway Authority to enforce the cameras around O'Hare. But Stephens said there are other roads nearby that deal with this problem too, including Mannheim Road and Balmoral Avenue.
Without the Illinois Department of Transportation in the original legislation, Stephens said it is going to take time before the cameras can start cashing in.
"You would have thought that the legislative people who are around in Springfield would have brought that to my attention," Stephens said.
That means Stephens must go back to the drawing board and get lawmakers to pass another bill he hopes will move quickly.
"I think they can get something done in, you know, let's just say hopefully 90 days," Stephens said.
With the cameras, Stephens said law enforcement officers can be used elsewhere — instead of hovering around O'Hare on a daily basis to catch people idling.
"It's just time to address this, and address it in a way that, you know, makes it uncomfortable for people, and they just do the right thing and go to the cell phone lot," Stephens said.
If the bill is signed into law, the state would still have to figure out which company would install the cameras. Whoever is selected would get revenue from tickets.
The O'Hare cell phone lot is located on Bessie Coleman Drive north of Terminal 5. The airport provides the following directions to get there:
Directions from
City of Chicago: Take the Bessie Coleman Drive exit and continue ahead to the Cell Phone Lot.
Mannheim Rd.: Merge onto I-190 West. Take the Bessie Coleman Drive exit and continue to the Cell Phone Lot.
Terminal 1, 2, 3: Continue onto I-190 East. Take the exit toward Mannheim Road/Terminal 5. Use the left two lanes and turn left onto Bessie Coleman Drive Continue 0.2 miles and make a right to the Cell Phone Lot.
Terminal 5: Head north onto Bessie Coleman Drive Continue 0.3 miles and turn right to the Cell Phone Lot.