After 3 troopers are killed, here’s what’s being done to make sure you move over
Local agencies have taken note of the Illinois State Police’s initiative to enforce the Move Over Law, and have decided to make some changes of their own.
On Tuesday, the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association announced the 2019 Officer Safety and Scott’s Law Safety Initiative, a traffic awareness campaign to teach departments across the state how to protect their deputies and other road-side emergency assistance workers.
Scott’s Law is named after Chicago Fire Lt. Scott Gillen, who was killed when a drunken driver struck him as he assisted a crash in 2000. It tells drivers they must slow down and move over for stopped vehicles that have emergency lights flashing.
The campaign will run from April 12 to 19, according to an ISP release.
“Illinois has had four traffic related officer fatalities already in 2019,” it stated. “Enough is enough.”
Acting Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly announced last month that the agency will be cracking down on drivers who don’t slow down and move over for stopped vehicles with emergency lights flashing. Three state police officers have been struck and killed on the job so far this year.
“ISP’s division of operations has come up with some new and creative techniques to apply to these additional Scott’s Law details,” he said. “So if you see a squad car, with warning lights, don’t assume it’s a lone trooper doing just a regular traffic stop. You could have eyes, video and other instrumentation all around you as part of a Scott’s Law detail.”
Currently, the law states violators could face fines of $100 to $10,000, or lose their driving privileges for anywhere from 90 days to two years in prison, depending on the circumstances.
What Southern Illinois agencies are doing
The Beckemeyer Volunteer Fire Department in Clinton County announced Tuesday that it will take enforcement of the law a step further by closing roadways in both directions while responding to any traffic accident.
Chief Luke Baker said the change comes in light of a close call the agency experienced Sunday.
“We had an injury traffic accident and a vehicle came at us fast, but missed,” Baker said. “We’ve had traffic cones and equipment hit at accident scenes before too. We decided we’re going to go ahead and shut the roadway down while on scene to eliminate any potential of that.”
Baker said the department will provide detours and call in other agencies, like police, for assistance. Many roads in the department’s coverage area are within a mile of a side road, he said.
“We’ll keep traffic flowing, just not through the accident scene,” he said.
Baker said in the past, police departments and tow truck drivers have called for the fire department’s help while working on the side of the road.
“A big red fire truck with flashing lights is safer to hide behind than a cop car,” he said.
St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson said he doesn’t have enough deputies to do extra patrols focused just on Scott’s Law enforcement.
He said deputies from time to time do patrols as part of traffic grants.
“They will pull you over and potentially give you a ticket for (a Scott’s Law violation),” Watson said. “Hopefully people will obey the law and just move over.”
Distracted driving is the problem
According to Baker, distracted driving is a major culprit in accidents and Move Over Law violations. He said he’s witnessed drivers taking smart-phone video of accident scenes from behind the wheel of their cars.
“It’s gotten worse,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for almost 16 years now and it’s worse than it ever has been because of cell phones.”
Kelly says a lack of public awareness of the law remains an issue.
“This is a new level of disregard,” he said in a press conference last month.
Kelly has said that the agency set a goal to improve the quality of evidence they present prosecutors, including videos that show a driver could have changed lanes safely, or speed detectors that show how a vehicle accelerated as it passed a squad car. All could help prove cases against the motorist in court.
Watson also believes the main problem is drivers not paying attention to the road.
“The biggest problem with this whole issue is people distracted and driving,” Watson said. “That’s why we have a distracted driving campaign here in the county every year.”
“People have to pay attention while they’re driving,” he added. “There’s too many things going on in a car today with cell phones. It’s too easy to call somebody or text somebody.”
Durbin takes the issue to U.S. Senate
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about the issue on the Senate floor Thursday, urging the federal government to bring this issue to light as well.
Durbin honored ISP Troopers Brooke Jones-Story, Jerry Ellis and Chris Lambert, the three officers who were struck and killed by drivers while on duty this year.
“What makes the deaths of these three public servants — these three heroes — even harder to bear is that Illinois passed a law nearly 20 years ago that was supposed to make the roads safer for police and other emergency responders,” he said. “I believe that the federal government also needs to do more.
“In the upcoming surface transportation re-authorization, I will be working to increase funding for highway safety grants to provide states with the resources to better enforce these laws.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
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