More than 1,500 'Move Over Law' tickets written in Illinois this year

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(KMOX) - After seeing 16 troopers hit and three killed in less than four months, Illinois State Police are cracking down on motorists who don't pull over and slow down for emergency vehicles. 

So far this year, State Police have given out over 1,500 tickets for violating what's known as "Scott's Law." At this time last year they had given out 257.

Trooper Josh Korando tells KMOX they are placing an extra emphasis on catching violators. "If one of our troopers makes a stop, or is on a crash, maybe another officer will go assist him when they wouldn't in the past. As they're sitting there, behind the trooper who made the stop, the second car is looking for Scott's Law violations."

In District 11, which covers the metro east, troopers have given out 68 tickets this year, compared to 21 at this time in 2018.

Korando says a majority of those pulled over say they were unaware of the law. That's something State Police are trying to change. "This isn't a numbers thing, a numbers gimmick where we're just trying to write more tickets and more tickets and more tickets. We're trying to teach people and the best way we know how to teach people is to pull them over and educate them on the side of the road."

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.

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