Many drivers in Illinois have been hit with heavy fines for failing to comply with this law. The statute ( deals with any emergency vehicle that has lights and/or sirens activated.
If such a vehicle is approaching then you must yield the right of way and move to the right to permit safe passage of the vehicle. Most of us are familiar with this requirement. The more aggravating application involves the situation when you are approaching a stopped emergency vehicle that is on the shoulder of a highway that has at least two lanes of traffic going in each direction. In such a case, you must slow down and move into the lane furthest from the lane next to the stopped vehicle “if possible with due regard to safety and traffic conditions..” I recently had a client who felt
it was not safe to move over because there was a semi-truck behind her and another vehicle next to her. The Illinois State Police officer pulled her over several miles after she passed him and he proceeded to become very argumentative, even trying to convince her that her car registration was fora different car, which was untrue.
This law was created because of a tragic accident where a drunk driver struck and killed a police officer stopped on the side of the road. This law has received a lot of criticism because the fines ($100-10,000) can be quite stiff and lots of responsible drivers who do no harm are being punished. The Illinois State Police are really enforcing this law strictly, so be alert on the highways!
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