Editorial: Honor trooper; don't drive drunk
Family, friends and colleagues gathered last week to honor Illinois State Police Trooper Gerald W. Ellis by unveiling a sign naming a portion of the Tri-State Tollway for him.
It identifies the stretch from mile marker 16.5 to mile marker 17 near Green Oaks as "Trooper Gerald W. Ellis Memorial Highway," the spot where the 36-year-old husband and father of two from Antioch died March 30. He drove his squad car into the path of a drunken driver who was heading the wrong way in order to stop him from hurting anyone else.
Great hero. Great honor. Huge tragedy - one that begs the questions of why people continue to drive impaired, putting themselves and many others at risk, and what more can be done to address it.
Despite years of public service announcements, the threat of serious legal problems, fines and lawyer fees and ruined reputations, it's a sure bet that on any given night, people will know they have had too much to drink but still get behind the wheel and drive.
The sensible alternatives are well-known - hand the keys to someone who hasn't been drinking, include a designated driver in a night out on the town or take advantage of the ease and availability of ride-sharing to get home safely.
Those who don't make the right choice may be lucky to get from one point to another without incident. Many times, they are not.
That apparently happened on the day before Ellis' memory was honored. Police say a car driven in the wrong lane on Route 83 in Clarendon Hills shortly before 3 a.m. slammed into a vehicle carrying four people. Two were killed. Authorities said they found open and unopened beer bottles in the car driven by 25-year-old Juan Rodea-Cruz, who faces several felony charges.
There are many people who don't learn from the first DUI. Just in the last month, we wrote about at least three people who were charged or convicted of their fifth DUI violation. While in those cases, there was no loss of life, those people again face thousands of dollars in legal costs, fines and prison time.
In 2017, the most recent year statistics are available, 32% of 998 fatal crashes in Illinois involved alcohol.
"When the kids go to college, they'll drive by that sign," Stacy Ellis said during the ceremony to honor her husband. "It's 15 minutes away from our house. It will remind me how much I miss him and how great a guy he was. I lost my best friend."
Those are chilling, emotional words that should be considered by anyone who has been drinking and is about the put the key in the ignition.
Drunken driving knows no age, socio-economic or ethnic boundaries. Given all the awareness and resources available, the question is why does it happen at all?