Hello Trooper Ness,
I have a question for. Is there such a law called Scott's law? I received an email about this subject and am curious as to whether this law exists or not. The following is is the email I received.
Thank you in advance,
Ed
Ed,
There is such a law as "Scott's Law". It is also known as the "Move Over" law and is found in 625 ILCS 5/11-907. This law (in part c) states that:
Upon approaching a stationary authorized emergency vehicle, when the authorized emergency vehicle is giving a signal by displaying alternately flashing red, red and white, blue, or red and blue lights or amber or yellow warning lights, as person who drives an approaching vehicle shall:
Proceeding with due caution, yield the right of way by making a lane change into a lane not adjacent to that of the authorized emergency vehicle, if possible with due regard to safety and traffic conditions, if on a highway having at least 4 lanes with not less than 2 lanes proceeding in the same direction as the approaching vehicle; or
Proceeding with due caution, reduce the speed of the vehicle, maintaining a safe speed for road conditions, if changing lanes would be impossible or unsafe.
In section "e" the law says that if the violation results in damage to the property of another person, driving privileges shall be suspended for 90 days to 1 year. In section "f" the law says that if the violation results in injury to another person, driving privileges shall be suspended for 180 days to 2 years. In section (g) it states that if a violation results in the death of another person, driving privileges will be suspended for 2 years.
Currently, section (h) states that any record of judgement (guilty plea or guilty finding without supervision) shall result in a suspension for the mandatory period (30 days). I can tell you that legislation has been introduced and supported by the ISP to eliminate this last suspension requirement. While the law has been in effect for several years now, and there are periodic road signs and a concerted effort at education, it seems that a segment of the driving public is unaware of it's existence. For this reason, the modification to this law is being examined.
Thanks for your question, and I hope that drivers realize the intent of the law, which is to reduce the amount of crashes into emergency workers and their vehicles. Scott's Law was named after Lieutenant Scott Gillen of the Chicago Fire Department, who was struck and killed by an intoxicated driver while assisting at a crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway. It mandates that drivers move over or, if not possible, at least reduce the speed of their vehicle when passing a stationary emergency vehicle, such as police, fire, maintenance workers or tow trucks.
Randy
Leave a comment