Irks, quirks and Oughta be laws
Irks, quirks and Oughta be laws 5.00/5 (100.00%) 1 vote
By Ray Hanania
ILLEGAL PARKING: There are a lot of other ways to generate revenue from traffic tickets instead of installing red light cameras to nail unsuspecting motorists.
Here are a few suggestions. Put a police squad car near the small Orland Park Post Office branch in the strip mall at 151st and LaGrange Road.
Count how many drivers pull their cars up to the strip mall curb – blocking the mall entrance intersection – and then mosey on in like there was no tomorrow.
They leave their cars parked like that for 15, maybe 25 minutes, blocking the traffic and causing cars to squeeze past each other creating jams in the traffic lanes.
Typical of the cars that pull up and park in front of the US Post office at 151st and LaGrange Road, blocking traffic and causing traffic jams, instead of parking in the parking lot only 20 feet away.
The curb is painted yellow.
HANDICAPPED PLATES: How about cracking down on the “miracle people” who have Handicapped Cards hanging from their rear view mirrors, or Handicapped license plates on their cars?
As soon as they pull into the handicapped spot, they step out of their vehicles — again, Cadillacs, Lincolns, Hummers and other huge luxury sedans — and walk like they’re entering a movie theater in a hurry for a good seat.
Many of the people using these cards are not handicapped. If you are driving someone who is handicapped and they are in the car, I can understand it, maybe, if the handicapped person needs to get out.
But even then, in most cases, the other person (who may be handicapped) is sitting in the car.
The handicapped tag should have the person’s name on it, and they had better be driving or in the car.
RED LIGHT CAMERAS: I don’t mind red light cameras, if the rules are not skewered to jam motorists.
US Post office at 151st and LaGrange Road in Orland Park. Although the curbs are painted yellow designating no parking, cars pile up here blocking the roadway and causing traffic jams as drivers leave their cars running not only to drop letters int he mail boxes but to put them inside the post office.
What do I mean? I mean like when the City of Chicago installs red light cameras, and then change the time-lapse between the Green and Red lights from three seconds to two seconds.
That one-second difference is the cause of your unfair anguish, and gives the city an unfair advantage.
You can’t go through a changing light in two seconds without getting a ticket. And if the light is changing, and you slam on your breaks, you risk causing a crash. With speeds higher than 30 MPH, it should be 4 seconds!
The other day I got a ticket for making a legal right hand turn in a right hand lane, after stopping at a red light at Ogden and Harlem. But, I didn’t stop where the city wanted me to stop.
The city painted a white line and, 10 feet further down, put a small white sign with black letters, which explains that before you make a right turn, you must “stop at the white line,” that I just passed.
You have to cross the white line to be able to read the sign. It’s a $100 ticket.
Email me and share your “Irks and Quirks and Oughta Be Laws.”
THE GRAPEVINE: I have to say Oak Lawn has become one of the most vicious political environments I have ever seen. The hatred, the name calling, the ugly emails, the lies, the anonymous blog posts from both sides, former officials who act like babies, and the polarization of voters makes me, and others, disgusted. In the long run, these fools fueling this kind of viciousness are going to bring Oak Lawn down. Oak Lawn used to be one of the region’s best communities. How did you all let this happen, Oak Lawn?
(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter. Reach him with your story ideas at [email protected]. Hanania’s column appears each week in the Des Plaines Valley News, the Southwest News-Herald, the Regional News and the Palos Reporter newspapers.)
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Irks, quirks and Oughta be laws
By Ray Hanania
Here are a few suggestions. Put a police squad car near the small Orland Park Post Office branch in the strip mall at 151st and LaGrange Road.
Count how many drivers pull their cars up to the strip mall curb – blocking the mall entrance intersection – and then mosey on in like there was no tomorrow.
They leave their cars parked like that for 15, maybe 25 minutes, blocking the traffic and causing cars to squeeze past each other creating jams in the traffic lanes.
Typical of the cars that pull up and park in front of the US Post office at 151st and LaGrange Road, blocking traffic and causing traffic jams, instead of parking in the parking lot only 20 feet away.
The curb is painted yellow.
HANDICAPPED PLATES: How about cracking down on the “miracle people” who have Handicapped Cards hanging from their rear view mirrors, or Handicapped license plates on their cars?
As soon as they pull into the handicapped spot, they step out of their vehicles — again, Cadillacs, Lincolns, Hummers and other huge luxury sedans — and walk like they’re entering a movie theater in a hurry for a good seat.
Many of the people using these cards are not handicapped. If you are driving someone who is handicapped and they are in the car, I can understand it, maybe, if the handicapped person needs to get out.
But even then, in most cases, the other person (who may be handicapped) is sitting in the car.
The handicapped tag should have the person’s name on it, and they had better be driving or in the car.
RED LIGHT CAMERAS: I don’t mind red light cameras, if the rules are not skewered to jam motorists.
US Post office at 151st and LaGrange Road in Orland Park. Although the curbs are painted yellow designating no parking, cars pile up here blocking the roadway and causing traffic jams as drivers leave their cars running not only to drop letters int he mail boxes but to put them inside the post office.
What do I mean? I mean like when the City of Chicago installs red light cameras, and then change the time-lapse between the Green and Red lights from three seconds to two seconds.
That one-second difference is the cause of your unfair anguish, and gives the city an unfair advantage.
You can’t go through a changing light in two seconds without getting a ticket. And if the light is changing, and you slam on your breaks, you risk causing a crash. With speeds higher than 30 MPH, it should be 4 seconds!
The other day I got a ticket for making a legal right hand turn in a right hand lane, after stopping at a red light at Ogden and Harlem. But, I didn’t stop where the city wanted me to stop.
The city painted a white line and, 10 feet further down, put a small white sign with black letters, which explains that before you make a right turn, you must “stop at the white line,” that I just passed.
You have to cross the white line to be able to read the sign. It’s a $100 ticket.
Email me and share your “Irks and Quirks and Oughta Be Laws.”
THE GRAPEVINE: I have to say Oak Lawn has become one of the most vicious political environments I have ever seen. The hatred, the name calling, the ugly emails, the lies, the anonymous blog posts from both sides, former officials who act like babies, and the polarization of voters makes me, and others, disgusted. In the long run, these fools fueling this kind of viciousness are going to bring Oak Lawn down. Oak Lawn used to be one of the region’s best communities. How did you all let this happen, Oak Lawn?
(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter. Reach him with your story ideas at [email protected]. Hanania’s column appears each week in the Des Plaines Valley News, the Southwest News-Herald, the Regional News and the Palos Reporter newspapers.)
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