Hoffman Estates, Illinois Speed Traps

Most people who cut through to Higgins from Jones Rd (or just from the sub-division) will definately not catch this one until its almost too late. A cop sits at the bottom of a hill parallel to Hillcrest clocking all motorists heading towards Higgins Rd. Cop is there roughly until 9:30-10:00am on the weekdays, but sometimes is absent from the spot. The speed limit is around 25-35 mph and they’ll clock you as soon as you hit the top of the hill until you ride your brakes all the way down. I’ve never personally been pulled voer, but I’ve seen many kids heading over to the community college on Algonquin get pulled over because they cruised right on down that hill going probably 40 miles an hour. Just be careful and ride your brakes down the hill until you get past.

Sits just one building east of the Marathon Station and just west of Hoffman Estates High School. This is everyday occurance. On weekends, it is different times of day.

This is a brand new speed trap (as of 10/2004). Bartlett Road in Hoffman Estates used to be a two lane road with a speed limit of 50. It was filled with potholes and heavy north bound traffic during weekday mornings.

The Illinois Department Of Transportation (IDOT) closed the road from April until October. It just re-opened. It is now a four lane road. Although there are no intersecting roads or any homes built anywhere near this stretch of highway (forest preserves line both sides of the road) IDOT for some reason decided that the area needed curbs. So when speeders are pulled over, the speeding car and police car have nowhere to pull off the road and therefore they block the right hand lane.

The road is much safer than it was when it was 2 lanes, but for some reason, the speed limit has now been lowered to 45. Although heavy traffic still uses this road north bound in the morning, it is practically empty at all other times of the day (it always was – prompting me to wonder why IDOT spent so much money expanding the road to four lanes, when two was quite sufficient – a new right-turn lane at Shoe Factory Road was all it needed.)

There still remains a slight hill in the road at approximately the mid-point between Shoe Factory Road and Golf Road (Route 58). In the morning, Hoffman Estates police sit parked along the side of the road just north of the hill. In the evening, police sit parked immediately south of this hill and catch speeders coming south bound over the hill.

The stretch is wide open, so keeping to the 45 mph limit is EXTREMELY difficult! I have been passed by vehicles doing (what seems to be)as much as 70 mph. Again, there are no houses anywhere near this area (and there aren’t even entrances to the preserves along Bartlett Road), so these police officers are protecting no one in this area. This one is 100% speed trap.

Route 59, south of Illinois 90. Speed limit is 45. Police park approximately 1/2 mile south of 90, usually on the west side of the road in an entrance to a forest preserve. (Very difficult to spot at night.) Here, they clock south-bound traffic. Sometimes the police park further south on the east side of the road on a side road upon which only a couple of houses exist. From here they clock traffic in both directions.

Route 59 in this area was rebuilt several years ago. Prior to it’s reconstruction, this stretch of Route 59 was a two lane road with a speed limit of 55. After construction, the road became a four lane highway. The road was now in much better condition – and safer – than when it’s speed was 55, but now the speed limit was dropped to 45. For some odd reason, the Illinois Department Of Transportation (IDOT) decided that this area needed to have curbs. CURBS! Along side a forest preserve! This means that when the police stop someone, there is nowhere for the stopped vehicle and police car to pull off the road. They then block the right lane. Due to a slight curve to the left further up the road, these stopped vehicles are out of view until cars come around the curve. This causes sudden stops by vehicles needing to cut into the left lane.

Cops will sit in unmarked van in the mostly undeveloped Prairie Stone Industrial Park with radar. Marked squads farther down will be pulling over everybody. There is so little activity in this business park, people would not expect the cops to be wasting their time running a speed trap here.