‘It’s so pervasive’: Why Cook sheriff is cracking down on expressway shoulder drivers

We’ve all been there. Stuck in traffic on an expressway, patiently waiting to inch forward when a car zooms by on the shoulder, its driver showing little concern for common courtesy, safety, or the rules of the road.

We clench our steering wheels tight. Mutter (or shout) a few choice words. Perhaps even throw out an unkind hand gesture, all while resisting the urge to follow suit.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart knows exactly how you feel. And now he’s doing something about it.

Dart’s office is using the new, $11 million helicopter added to its fleet last year to identify, track down and ticket drivers using the shoulders to avoid backups on Chicago-area expressways.

“You’d have to be an idiot not to know how dangerous it is,” Dart told us Thursday. “And yet it’s so pervasive.”

Dart knows firsthand. He said he regularly sees vehicles driven by “dangerous morons” rocketing past him as he sits in traffic on I-290 while traveling between the county jail in Chicago and sheriff’s headquarters in Maywood.

The state-of-the-art surveillance copter was deployed last year mainly to help track suspects in carjackings and other major crimes. But Dart, fed up with what he was seeing along I-290, decided to take advantage of the eye in the sky’s down times to make the expressways safer.

During an operation, copter pilots spot and video-record vehicles using the shoulder, then relay the information to an officer on the ground, who pulls over and cites the driver. If the scofflaw tries to deny it, the copter can send video to the officer, Dart said.

It’s already resulted in about 1,300 citations for driving on the shoulder, Dart told us, with the average fine coming to about $500, and some as high as $1,000.

“We’re not catching every one, but we’re catching a lot of them and they’re paying big fines,” Dart said.

Shoulder driving endangers everyone else out on the road — including construction workers, law enforcement officers who’ve pulled someone over and other drivers who may need to pull over after a crash, flat tire or malfunction, Dart said.

But beyond that, he said, it violates our sense of fairness and fuels feelings that society is falling apart. That’s why, he noted, his officers are sometimes cheered by other drivers after pulling over a shoulder driver.

“We’re trying to bring some sanity back into the world,” Dart said.

Let’s make a deal

Got a secret to get off your chest? The kind that, if found out, might land you in front of a judge and behind bars?

Have federal prosecutors got a deal for you.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois on Thursday announced it’s launching a first-of-its kind program that encourages people to self-report nonviolent criminal wrongdoing and cooperate with any investigation that results from it.

The Individual Self-Disclosure Program will offer those who come forward three possible benefits: letter immunity, i.e. the promise not to use the info you provide against you; a deferred or non-prosecution agreement; or a break on sentencing if you are prosecuted and found guilty.

A person who receives a deferred or non-prosecution agreement turns over any proceeds from the criminal activity and pays restitution to victims, officials said.

“For the first time in the Northern District of Illinois, individual wrongdoers now know upfront, with transparency and much greater certainty, whether and how they can be rewarded when they self-disclose wrongdoing, fully cooperate with our investigation, and remediate the misconduct,” U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros said in Thursday’s announcement.

“Although we expect this new self-disclosure program to substantially increase our intake of fraud and other adjacent investigations, make no mistake: our office will continue to vigorously pursue criminals who elect to roll the dice and not come forward and self-report their criminal activities,” he added.

The offer is not available for crimes involving violence, the threat of violence, guns, terrorism, drug trafficking, child exploitation, human trafficking or any sex offense involving fraud, force, coercion or a minor victim. Same goes for elected leaders or federal law enforcement officers, officials said.

RIP Nitro

The DuPage County Sheriff's Office is mourning the passing of longtime police dog Nitro, who was humanely laid to rest Saturday at the age of 10.

Nitro served since 2019 alongside Deputy Frank Carragher as an explosives recognition canine assigned to the sheriff’s Hazardous Device Unit.

He responded to hundreds of assignments for the sheriff’s office and other police agencies across the area, when his specialized skills were relied upon for explosives sweeps, suspicious package investigations and firearm tracking operations, officials said.

Nitro also was a regular at the county courthouse, where he performed explosives detection sweeps.

“No one was ever injured by explosives missed on Nitro’s watch,” the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook. “His extraordinary reliability and instincts helped keep countless deputies, officers, courthouse staff, and members of the public safe throughout his years of service.”

“We know Heaven is a little bit safer now that Nitro is standing watch at the gate,” the post reads. “Rest easy, Nitro. Your watch is complete.”

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