Editorial: Scott Law's with a community service option

Sometimes - rarely - a legislative proposal is so obviously a good idea that politics don't enter into it.

Such was the case of last week's amendment to Scott's Law, the statewide edict that you must slow down and pull to the side of the road to allow emergency vehicles pass through undeterred and that you must slow down and give wide berth to any emergency vehicle with its flashers on along the side of the road.

Scott's Law was named for Lt. Scott Gillen, 37, a 14-year Chicago firefighter who was killed by a drunken driver in a passing vehicle while Gillen was assisting at a crash scene on the Dan Ryan Expressway in 2000.

While penalties ranging from tickets for first offenders to license suspensions for habitual offenders still exist, last week's amendment - approved by a unanimous vote of the legislature - empowers judges to also sentence drivers to community service. It goes into effect Jan. 1.

It's clear that people haven't been deterred from speeding. In 2019, District 15 state police, which patrols 12 counties in northern Illinois, issued more than 30,000 speeding tickets and warnings.

Some drivers, it would seem, consider getting a speeding ticket part of the cost of driving. You plead guilty and mail in your payment.

But when one must make good by doing community service, the inconvenience and self-reflection that comes with it might actually wake some people up to the seriousness of the infraction.

The governor's office said troopers statewide cited 1,340 drivers with failing to follow Scott's Law between Feb. 18 and March 7.

That's simply unacceptable.

"This is a wake-up call for every resident of Illinois: Your distracted driving could be someone else's worst nightmare, and no text or other distraction is worth that," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a bill-signing last week. "So next time you hit the road - to be clear, every time you hit the road - please remember the real risks of not honoring Scott's Law."

Lauren Frank was also at that bill signing. Her husband was not. He is State Trooper Brian Frank - the fourth trooper this year to be struck by a vehicle by someone not adhering to Scott's Law.

Since he was hit in February, he has been to four hospitals, undergone three brain surgeries, had 12 ambulance rides and endured eight weeks of therapy, according to a Capital News Illinois story. He remains in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness" and in critical condition.

"The setbacks are devastating, and the unknowns of our future are overwhelming," Laura Frank said. "The daily grief sits heavily on us as we wait and watch Brian fight for his life, to come back to us. And again, this was all preventable."

It truly was. Follow the law.