Slow Down, Move Over

I have had my disagreements with the Illinois State Police.

But let me be crystal clear about something. If I am experiencing problems on one of the interstates that criss-cross Illinois….there is no other sight more welcome than a state trooper.  

Having said that, I mourn with them as the state has lost its third trooper since the beginning of the year. Trooper Gerald Ellis, only 36-years-old, died Saturday night when a driver going the wrong way slammed into his squad car. An 11-year veteran, Ellis died an hour later at a hospital in the Chicago suburbs.

Last Thursday Trooper Brooke Jones-Story was killed when a truck struck her while she stood next to her squad car in Freeport. The same thing happened in January to claim the life of Trooper Christopher Lambert near Northbrook.

This has correctly prompted the state police to publicly say that they are focused on the enforcement of the “Move Over Law,” also known as Scott’s Law.The statute requires drivers to slow down and change lanes upon approaching stationary emergency vehicles with their warning lights on. Scott’s Law is named after a Chicago firefighter who was hit and killed working a vehicle accident.

So, I understand why the state police are getting real serious about enforcing Scott’s Law. For them, it is a matter of life and death.

Too many lunatics are driving on the interstate while texting their girlfriends.

Just to be clear, I never stop along the side of a highway. I find an off ramp, even if I’ve blown a tire. Even if it means I am going to roach a wheel rim….I never stop like a sitting duck along the side of a major highway.  And I think it is no longer going to be an adequate excuse to a trooper that you couldn’t move over because there was already someone in the other lane.

Slow down….Move over.