SPRINGFIELD - After bombarding Illinois drivers with highway signs, advertising campaigns and boosting the fine for speeding in highway work zones, the number of deaths and accidents has dropped, state officials say.

In 2003, 44 people, including five construction workers, died in work zone accidents.

Since then, state police have spread out five photo enforcement vans across the state, which have automatically issued 7,441 speeding tickets, said Scott Compton, Illinois State Police spokesman.

As a result, the number of state work zone fatalities has dipped from 44 to 21 in 2007.

"Obviously, our goal has been to reduce fatalities and reduce crashes in general," Compton said. "We are hopeful that the presence of those photo enforcement vans and squad cars remind drivers to slow down and proceed with caution through construction zones."

Two construction workers died in 2007; one died in both 2005 and 2006. A crash count for 2008 is not yet available.

"We're seeing that people are slowing down, but more is always better. We would like people to slow down, and this is just another tool for getting them to do so," Compton said.

This summer marks the third year vans will be hounding construction zones. Three will be touring various state work zones between Rock Island, Du Quoin, Springfield, Champaign and Collinsville; one will monitor state highway construction zones and one more is reserved for metropolitan Chicago.

While you might try to wiggle out of a state trooper's ticket, these vans are automated to issue a $375 ticket to anyone over the speed limit. If drivers are cited for a second time, the fine bumps up to $1,000 with a potential 90-day license suspension.

The vans are well-marked and include a speed board so drivers know how fast they are going. State statute also requires signs warning drivers of the automated surveillance, said Mike Claffey, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Since 2003, when the number of highway construction deaths and injuries reached an alarming high, the state's efforts to curb accidents has succeeded, Claffey said.

But that doesn't mean the number of work zone citations issued by state police will decrease.

"We certainly don't want to let our guard down," Claffey said.

Instead, the number of tickets and the money the state makes from each work zone speeding citation has bumped up each year.

Since 2005, the Illinois Department of Transportation has generated more than $7.4 million from work zone speeding violations, said Illinois DOT spokeswoman Paris Ervin.

"We're not doing it to issue citations or make money; we're doing it to save lives," Claffey said.

There's no leniency when it comes to issuing tickets, Compton said.

"Speeding is speeding, even with a regular speeding ticket, there's no grace if you break the law," Compton said.

Images of the driver's face and the front and rear license plates on the vehicle will be recorded. If the driver is anyone other than the owner of the vehicle, the owner will not be responsible for the ticket. When the ticket is mailed, an image of the driver appears with the citation.

The Federal Highway Administration said it "suspects" photo enforcement works, but since Illinois is one of just a few states to have adopted the program, spokesman Doug Hecox said the department has yet to analyze it thoroughly.

Kartikay Mehrotra can be reached at kartikay.mehrotra@lee.net or 789-0865.