Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Laws, laws, everywhere

Posted in:

Illinois

* You gotta give the bicyclists a three-foot cushion when you pass them…

As the weather warms up and more and more bicyclists are taking to the roads around the state, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich today launched a public awareness effort to educate drivers about a new state law requiring motorists to pass bicyclists with at least three feet to spare. The effort – called “Please Don’t Squeeze” – starts today and is funded by a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Division of Traffic Safety to the League of Illinois Bicyclists (LIB).

* Congressman Mark Kirk is worried about Second Life…

Lirk particularly singled out the site Second Life. On Second Life, users create an online persona for themselves and can engage in a variety of supposedly fantasy behaviors, including illegal actions like prostitution and drug dealing.

He cited legislation he introduced requiring libraries to get parental permission for children using networking Web sites and requiring schools to prevent children from accessing them.

* Eric Zorn takes a look at the unintended consequences of Scott’s Law, “the six-year-old state statute imposing very stiff penalties on motorists who don’t give a wide berth to emergency vehicles whenever possible”…

I was in the right lane, going roughly the speed limit on a clear night on a flat, straight road with light traffic. Up ahead I saw the flashing lights of a police car on the right shoulder, checked the speedometer just to make sure I wasn’t going to attract attention, and simply continued past.

Three or four minutes later came the flashing police lights right behind me.

What had I done?

I’d failed to move into the left lane in order to give the emergency vehicle a wide berth as I passed, the trooper explained.

* Zorn has more here…

Though the law clearly says that the motorist should make a lane change “if possible with due regard to safety and traffic conditions,” the very, very stiff potential penalties make it quite chancy to use one’s best judgment.

It’s possible that rash, ill-advised lane changes in the vicinity of emergency vehicles will place both drivers and police/fire officers at greater risk.

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 9:51 am

Comments

The tape measure is in the car ready to act on the spur of the moment to ensure a safe three-foot cushion.

Comment by Fan of the Game Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 9:57 am
Kirk is on the right path. I don’t understand parents who watch their kids like a hawk in public, but think nothing about letting them roam freely on the internet. He should add pedophiles to the Second Life list of worries. I also think a parent has the right to capture every keystroke and mouse click their kid makes. Actually, I think it is something parents MUST start doing.

Comment by Belle Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 9:59 am
Pfft. Three foot cushion. While maybe realistic in some places at most times, it totally impracticle in others. One example: there’s a five mile stretch of stateway out my way that is full of hills. Bikes like to practice on this highway (forget that there is a bike trail a jump across the cornfield, it does not have the same conditions), so we have bikes two and three across going down the highway lane as if a single car, or we have a whole line of bikes going down single but still well on the highway. Vehicle driver gets a choice of endangering him/herself and crossing the center line on a hill with no vision of what may be climbing up the other lane on the other side of road or during speed from 55mph to like nothing while you have to drop to stay behind bikes. Ever try doing that with a semi climbing up the hill on your tail. I’m all for bike safety and would never intentionally desire to injure one ( or a dozen), but I also have no desire to take myself out in a head-on crash with another vehicle either. Gets real interesting out here when we have bikes working this highway coming and going this stretch of highway at the same time.

Comment by Princeville Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 10:07 am
Eric Zorn questioning “unintended consequences” of knee-jerk laws passed based upon sad (but everyday) outcomes - merely because he gets a ticket?! Wonders never cease!

Perhaps such enlightenment will extend to when he gets his property tax bill. Perhaps he will question his support of an ineffective, wasteful, and essentially corrupt public education bureaucracy.

But I doubt it.

Comment by Bruno Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 10:22 am
Lirk?

seems fitting somehow…

Comment by bored now Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 10:23 am
No matter the unintended consequences, Scott’s Law is needed. There are way too many idiots who have plenty of time and space to move over to the other lane but just keep flying pass the emergency vehicles. It’s amazing how people can actually be lazy driving a car. Like it is too much of an effort to look into your mirror, hit the turning indicator and move the steering wheel a half an inch. If Zorn had time to look down at his speedometer, he had time to switch lanes. He evens addmits that he didn’t even bother to slow down.

Comment by Been There Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 10:43 am
Scott’s Law states that you must change lanes away from emergency vehicles OR REDUCE SPEED IF you CANNOT change lanes. I trust that few of you have ever had to fight with a resisting drunk while cars whiz by your hip at 65+ mph on a routine, daily basis. More cops are killed by getting hit from behind than by gunfire. Though the law in question was named for a firefighter killed by a well-meaning driver at the scene of a traffic crash. I suggest everyone ride with a cop on the expressways and see what happens along the side of the road.

Comment by North of I-80 Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 10:46 am
Zorn has to be one of very few ticketed for Scott’s Law (I know, someone probably has the statistics at hand — I don’t). I have passed hundreds of work vehicles, troopers, deputies, etc, and slowed and moved over. For every time I’ve done that, as many other drivers didn’t. No squad car ever chased a violator I saw…

Comment by BehindTheScenes Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 10:49 am
I’ve been a volunteer ff for over 12 yrs. I have been on the scene of many accidents, most on the highway. It never ceases to amaze me how many motorists see the lights from multiple emergency response vehicles, see various ff’s, EMT’s, etc. working on patients, or working an extraction, yet they continue to fly right by, many times within inches of first responders. Close calls are all too common. Regarding Scott’s law, legislation won’t keep idiot drivers from being idiot drivers.

Comment by howie Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 10:50 am
People are basically idiots and sheep. When you put sheep and idiots in vehicles you get what you see out on the highway. Why WOULDN’T you move over and slow down even if there weren’t a law. I am amazed at drvers who feel as though they OWN the lane they are in. They put their vehicles on cruise and they have the right to be where they are and when, and god forbid if you try to change it. I have seen drivers almost hit other vehicles or cause accidents because they didn’t slow down or move over to avoid a situation they had to clearly see developing. This is a prime example of how you cannot legislate common sense.

Comment by Irish Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 11:00 am
Rich,

Am I the only one who finds the Daily Herald’s choice of language to describe Second Life play — “supposedly fantasy behaviors” — very curious?

Supposedly fantasy behaviors?

If it happens on Second Life it is, by definition, fantasy behavior.

It is a sad state of affairs when an imaginary blogger has a better grip on what is and isn’t real than the local newspaper.

– SCAM
so-called “Austin Mayor”
http://austinmayor.blogspot.com

Comment by so-called "Austin Mayor" Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 11:12 am
I thought the interesting thing about ‘Scott’s Law’, according to the column, was that the law had nothing to do with the tragic death. A drunk driver plowed into the EMT. Nothing to do with the bill and perhaps just more posturing and revenue collecting. Any state trooper should be able to pull over an idiot driver using no common sense and cite them for reckless driving. But, that would not have allowed the politicians who passed this bill to posture.

Comment by walter sobchak Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 11:18 am
In order:

1. Common sense. I propose a similar education program for our death-wish bicycle messengers.

2. Parents who allow their children to go online unsupervised are lunatics.

3. I don’t see Zorn’s point. Where did he learn to drive, Sears? You see the lights, you switch lanes when it’s safe or you slow down. Scott’s Law should be enforced to the fullest. Way too many fools driving way too fast and endangering road workers and emergency personnel.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 11:18 am
Rep. Kirk supports violating the 10th Amendment again. That amendment states that all powers that aren’t reserved for the federal government, in the Constitution, are reserved for the states or the people. I read every word of the Constitution, and I didn’t see the word “library.” Each state legislature should pass the bill that Kirk proposed, but, if Congress passes it, that would be unconstitutional.

Comment by PhilCollins Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 11:28 am
I ride in the narrow side streets of Berwyn and Oak Park and by the time you account for the cars parked on both sides of the street and me trying not to ride too close to the parked cars (car doors can be painful), there is no way a car has 3 feet of space. They usually pass me with a foot or so to spare and the only thing that makes it not feel like I’m trying out for death squad is that the cars are usually only going about 25 mph. 3 foot is fair for roads that allow it though.

Scott’s law shouldn’t have even had to made law, it’s just common sense, for Pete’s sake. The same common sense that is going to suggest changing lanes if someone is attempting to change a tire on the shoulder. If you’ve got room, why not? It’s just a lane change, after all.

One complaint, about emergency vehicles I do have, is at times in Berwyn, the fire trucks will go without siren (if it’s late at night). This almost did lead to a collision one night when I had been working late and was coming home around 3am. The fire truck was approaching the intersection with only its lights on in a construction area that had a lot of blinking lights. I was approaching the intersection the other way and came very close to colliding because I did not notice the fire truck. Use the sirens. If it’s enough of an emergency to run lights, then run the risk of waking people up!

Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 11:33 am
of an EMT, I’ve heard first hand the stories of clueless, careless, and sometimes belligerant people. Sometimes they are drivers along the road and sometimes they are friends and family members in a home that are putting patients and EMTs in jeapordy because they think they should supervise the scene. Scott’s law is there for arrogant ignorant people on the road. Wish there was one for other places.

Comment by As a parent Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 12:04 pm
This morning I was driving down Wells street in Chicago under the L-tracks. I came to a stop at Randolph. To my right pulled up three bikers, all within inches of me. To my left pulled up two more bikers all within inches of me.

All were well within 3 feet of me and I was there first. The ones in the left lane had cars lining up behind them.

Before the light changed two bikers pulled ahead and zipped into the middle of my lane, one of them nearly running down a pedestrian in the process.

At the next light, the same thing. They again ran the light and continued to swerve from lane to lane and blowing past pedestrians and lights.

So, how can I possibly keep 3 feet away from them to pass when they in turn are not following the law and they repeatedly are coming up to within inches of me.

The major ticketing campaign should start with the regular commuter bikers. Once they learn the rules of the road fewer of them will be squashed like bugs over their own stupidity.

And Eric Zorn, you deserved the ticket. Those are the rules of the road.

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 12:09 pm
I’m all for traffic safety and common sense. So how does that fit with the increasingly common police practice of stopping motorists in a lane of traffic on fast, busy roads and blocking that lane while they go through a whole traffic stop? Wouldn’t it make more sense for police to tell the motorist to go to the next driveway / parking lot / quiet street to pull over? Haven’t the police created a dangerous situation by blocking one of the lanes?

Comment by Anon Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 12:13 pm
More evidence that people are such horrible drivers that we need to legislate common sense. Call it a stupid tax if you’d like, but Scott’s law and the new law that prohibits driving too slow in the passing lane are necessary because too many morons don’t know how to drive. And yes, the cell phone ban is in this category.

As for the cushion, again, who doesn’t give sufficient space to cyclists? Good drivers don’t need to be told to do this. On the other hand, when will we enforce laws requiring cyclists to ride single file and obey traffic signs? Don’t get me started on bike messengers, they are worse than drunken cab drivers in Chicago.

What are they teaching in drivers’ education these days? Don’t people know this stuff? If self-absorbed and ignorant drivers can’t figure out they are a safety threat, I think the rest of us appreciate some symbolic prosecution of these idiots.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 12:40 pm
Zorn comes across as awfully whiny when it was him who got the ticket. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Here’s your sympathy Zorn - WAAAAHHH! Pay the fine and obey the laws next time.

Comment by Napoleon has left the building Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 3:11 pm
Scott’s Law was another over reaction by lawmakers, which is nothing new. As for people who ride bikes, they’d be safer if they’d follow the rules of the road like they’re supposed too and not run red lights and think they own the road…they bike at their own risk when they think the rules don’t apply to them.

Comment by Will Clark Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 3:17 pm
Mark Kirk seems to be hiding behind Melissa Bean’s skirts.

In April Melissa Bean calls for earmark reform.
A week later Mark Kirk calls for earmark reform.
Melissa Bean sponsors Internet safety bill in 2007.
Mark Kirk worried about Second Life in 2008.

Comment by IllinoisEddie Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 5:34 pm
Scott’s Law is a good law. There HAS been a change in driver behavior, but change comes slowly.

I’ll save you the war stories about why it is needed. I think that has been covered.

Here is what might surprise you: Many of those “revenue collecting cops” won’t enforce Scott’s Law with a citation because it is 1) A mandatory court appearance violation 2) With too high of a fine.

Make this a $75 ticket that you can pay through the mail like the rest unless there is a crash involved.

P.S., Zorn needs to stand by the scene of a crash and see how drivers react to emergency equipment on the side of the expressway or interstate and see what his opinion is then.

Comment by Freezeup Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 5:41 pm
Without repeating some of the very notable comments made by Freezeup and others about why “Scott’s Law” and similar measures are good laws, let me add a couple points:

-An amazing percentage of on-duty law enforcement injuries, disabilities, and sadly, fatalities are caused by traffic accidents. I don’t know the comparable stats for firefighters, but the numbers are similar for EMS personnel (excluding medevac, which is off the charts.) When the traffic accident stats are broken down farther, roadside accidents consistently ranked among the top causes of injured cops. (Note: my data points are a bit stale, but I doubt that things have changed much since I reviewed this research.)

-Freezeup and his colleagues will tell you that new police officers, especially State troopers and other officers who may have to investigate accidents or make stops on the highways, receive special training how to position their squad car, themselves, and anyone else outside a vehicle for protection from a rear-end collision involving an inattentive or intoxicated driver.

-I’m blanking on the name of this “phenomenon”, but a statistically significant number of otherwise unimpaired drivers will drive their vehicle, especially at night, in the direction of flashing lights. This is not “gaper’s block;” it’s a separate, unconscious reaction. (I think this is what Freezeup is talking about.) If you notice road construction areas these days, you see fewer or no flashing lights at night when you approach the actual “work zone.”

Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 6:39 pm
Just a clarification — I did NOT get a ticket, as the column item clearly stated; the officer gave me a warning. I wasn’t asking for sympathy or arguing that I’d done nothing wrong, I was merely passing along a warning to the public about Scott’s Law since I’d never heard of it and nearly everyone I spoke to about it hadn’t heard of it either.
I don’t object to the idea behind Scott’s Law at all. The notes/cautions about unintended consequences and so on came from readers who left comments or sent e-mail. I thought they raised interesting points.

Comment by Eric Zorn Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 7:47 pm
Just come out and stand by the roadside with me sometime when traffic is going by at 75 mph. It only takes a sec. a look at the radio,cellphone rings,kids act up and I am another news story!! I am amazed at the way people drive by without a thought to the safety of the people that work in harms way. Scotts law is great and I hope that folks remember we just want to go home at night!!

Comment by NIEVA Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 7:54 pm
As someone who grew up riding her bike in the streets of Chicago at the age of 11, took public transportation for 20 years and now at the ripe old age of 53 is back driving again, I have a lot of mixed feelings about the current attention paid to bicyclists because I was harrassed by bicycle activists a couple of times. It was kind of scary. I was alone in my car when it happened and the activists were more or less goons. I give as wide a berth as possible to bicyclists but I will not go over the double yellow lines. You stay in your lane and I will stay in mine.

Comment by Emily Booth Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 10:12 pm
I appreciated Zorn’s column because I had never heard about Scott’s Law. I should have been doing what the law says anyways even though I wasn’t familiar with it because it just makes good sense. However, sometimes people just act like idiots and that includes me.

Comment by David P. Graf Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 8:15 am
Arthur Anderson- Your comments are 100% on the mark. I worry most about tow truck drivers, volunteer firemen and other workers who do not have the benefit of training that drills into their head to “watch traffic”. I do not know the name of the phenomenon either, but you are correct. Drivers tend to drive toward where they are looking. They “drive where they look”.

Secondly, I was a little hard on Mr. Zorn and I apologize. I very much appreciate the attention and awareness his column brought to “Scott’s Law”.

David, we all make inadvertent violations, and your post shows why education and awareness is important. Most of the time I write written warnings for Scott’s Law. Most people just did not know they had an obligation to move over or slow down.

Again, I really think it is a flaw that this offense is mandatory court appearance and the high fine. Most people don’t commit this offense because they intend to endanger cops, firemen, tow truck and construction workers, they commit this offense because of lack of awareness.

This idea of cops not always being in favor of heavy fines an punishments may surprise some. I do not think a $300 fine changes driving behavior more than a $75 fine does for violations that may be inadvertant in nature. And stiff penalties encourage people to go to court, contest the charges and since many judges agree that the penalty is too high so they go out of their way to dismiss charges. I think that undermines the true goals of traffic safety.

Comment by Freezeup Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 9:28 am
O.K., I’ll roll out my best “Scott’s Law” war story!

One night last winter my mother, who has never recieved a citation of any kind and tends to err on the side of driving too slowly more than driving too fast, took my kids to a local play.

My shift was ending at about the same time she was driving them home on a rural interstate. I actually passed them on my way. I of course slowed alongside to wave at them.

I then stopped for a disabled motorist. My mother, driving MY mini-van, the only car on the road, drove by my squad car in the adjoining lane! I know she was tightly gripping the steering wheel at 10 and 2 and had no idea she was supposed to move over as she passed by me, her son, with emergency lights blazing.

I briefly considered writing her a warning when I arrived home so I could claim to be the guy at work who would “write his own mother” but I refrained.

Did she commit the offense? Yes. Did she deserve a citation with the stiff penalties provided in the law? Not even close.

Comment by Freezeup Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 9:42 am