• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Enforcement of Scott's Law in Illinois -- excessive, abusive, may be entrapment

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Z

zbob99

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland but incident occurred in Illinois

I received a Scott's Law (Move Over Law) ticket yesterday in Illinois on I-64 near Mt Vernon. The trooper's vehicle was stopped, well off on the side of the road, with lights flashing, no other cars around or any people around -- it did not look like an emergency situation. I normally slow down and move to an alternate lane if the situation looks hazardous but this one did not. I just thought this was some sort of "friendly" warning to keep to the speed limit, which I did. I also generally try to minimize lane changing for safety reasons.

I have never heard of this law and I am from Maryland where we do NOT have this law. No excuse, I know, but it still seems terribly unfair to expect outsiders to be familiar with this new law.

Illinois also seems to use this law abusively and actually sets traps to catch unaware motorists like me. This trooper was clearly not doing anything emergency related. He was just sitting there with lights flashing for no reason except as an entrapment setup.

The penalties are also outrageous. Mandatory requirement of a court appearance is unfair especially for out-of-towners like me. Also the fines are excessive --$150 to well over $300. Also, a person's license can be revoked and it can affect insurance rates? It is really unbelievable how overzealous the IL police and courts are pushing this.

I agree in principle with the spirit of the law but the aggressive style of enforcement is abusive, unfair and wrong. Anyway I have this ticket and a court date in January. I cannot afford to take time off from work and fly back to Illinois for court appearance. Some have suggested hiring a lawyer. I am totally distressed about this. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should do? Thanks.

Bob
 
Last edited:


FlyingRon

FlyingRon

Senior Member
It's not entrapment. Even if he sitting there for the express purpose of catching people who don't slow down/move over, it's not entrapment.

While Maryland doesn't YET have the law (it's one of only ten states that doesn't), it's coming.
You can't get out of Maryland without driving through a state that has one though. Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia all have such laws.

Police don't need a reason to be sitting their with their lights on. Highway shoulders are extremely dangerous places (I used to be a firefighter/paramedic whose territory included a stretch of I-95 in Maryland).

The mandatory appearance is par for the course unfortunately in Illinois. Got a buddy who got nailed with an unsafe lane change or some stupid thing and had to return to face it.
 
M

Maestro64

Member
Yep Maryland is one of the few state that have not enacted a "move over" law.

Well you can always hire a lawyer and most likely he will take a path of least resistance and try and get the ticket reduced for you, but in the end the total will be more then the ticket itself. The bigger question does this ticket carry points and would they transfer to MD. I would have to guess not since MD does not have similar law thus no way to assign points.

If you fight the ticket, your only chance is if the officer could not justify an emergency, however, read the law, the mere fact his lights were on could requires the move over rules. If that is the case then you have usually two options, move over or slow down. Obviously you did not move over, so how did the officer know you did not slow down. No where in these laws does it say to what speed you must slow down to, they just say slow down, so is going form 55 to 50 slow enough?

Most likely the officer did not measure your speed, or he could have and noticed you were at the speed limit and figure the only other ticket he could issue was a move over ticket.
 
Z

zbob99

Junior Member
I am willing to pay a fine for this but the mandatory appearance is rediculous. I would have to take off two days work and fly back at huge expense. Is the mandatory appearance "negotiable"?
 
Last edited:
M

Maestro64

Member
Most likely not if all he/she is going to do is plead the ticket down to some lessor offense. Even if they fights the ticket for you, it may not require a personal appears, a local lawyer can best advise you on the options.

If you do a search on traffic lawyers in the area, some will talk to you free on the phone and tell you what can be done and your possible options.

Just be aware, most lawyer are not going to vest lots of time in your ticket since time is money, and they are just going to see if they can get it reduced for you.
 
Z

zbob99

Junior Member
I talked with someone from the DA's office and they offered $200 fine with 3 months court supervision, no court appearance. If no other tickets in that time then it's not reported.

I am still debating what to do. I talked with a lawyer and he thought he could get it amended to a lesser violation like speeding since my record was clean, being from a state that does not have the law and that the trooper was sitting alone on the side of the road not obviously in an emergency situation.

What a pain.
 
E

earlharv

Junior Member
Scott's Law

I was curious how your case turned out. The same thing happened to my wife on a recent trip to IL. She was given a ticket and is being required to come back to IL in early January of 2010. One big thing we have going for us is that police car she passed had no flashing lights on. But I don't know if this will help us or not. We can't prove that.
 
HighwayMan

HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
It's very doubtful that the OP is still around after a year. I wouldn't be expecting a reply.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top