Champaign, Illinois Speed Traps

Patrol car sits on bridge clocking traffic on I-57 as it approaches Champaign from the south. Appears from the entrance ramp.

The Illinois State Police sit on the right hand side of the road, right after the speed limit drops from 65mph to 55mph.

The State Police usually sits in the turnaround area sitting on a diagonal so that they can get you going North or South.

This is a 45mph speed limit road that feels like a 55 limit since it’s 4 lanes with a wide center lane divider in the middle of farmland. There are numerous offshoot gravel roads hidden by hedges that make for good hiding spot for police vehicles. At least once a week I’ll find someone pulled over for going 55+ on this road.

This speedtrap consists of at least two cops, one who reads the laser detection and zoom-in camera equipment in a mysterious location and dispatches to another cop on wheels what their license plate and speed were and where they’re headed. It is hard to say exactly where the speed is read from and how exactly they know how to intercept (almost as if you have a helicopter flying overhead knowing where you turn off…who knows maybe there was an aircraft with that equipment on it), as it could have been done anywhere around I-72 overpass, but generally in this area. Avoid going fast in this area like the plague. As far as I’ve heard laser isn’t easy to detect even with a fancy detector until it’s too late (lasers are straight line, radars emit in a wide range). While it may be very effective in catching people and keeping the area slower, this type of organization and cost for such an infraction, I find a bit disproportionate.