Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Did first driver cause crash?

This morning's Northwest Herald reports on Saturday night's crash on Curran Road in McHenry, when a southbound driver stopped for an approaching northbound police car using emergency equipment. This often-improper driving action is dangerous and contributes to many near-misses. Saturday night's crash wasn't a near-miss.

There are times when you must stop for approaching emergency vehicles. The State law does not require you to stop, unless necessary to allow the emergency vehicle to pass safely. If it is not necessary to stop in order to allow the emergency vehicle to pass safely, then why do so many drivers do it? Including that ignorant and dangerous Pace Bus driver in McHenry recently?

This law applies whether the emergency vehicle is approachng you from behind or from the front.

Will McHenry Police be ticketing 18-year-old Adam Harris, if he did stop when not required? In other words, if the northbound police car had a clear lane with no other traffic in it as it approached Harris, then Harris did not need to stop. Why did he?

Because drivers misunderstand the law. Because, perhaps, the law is not taught correctly in some driver's education classes.

You can read the law for yourself at 625 ILCS 5/11-907(1).

Harris' stopping, unless sudden and without warning, doesn't excuse 20-year-old Ethan Okayama for his bad manners in running into Harris' vehicle, which was then pushed into a utility pole and knocked out power for a few hours. But maybe Harris should have gotten a ticket, too.

6 comments:

sixcedars said...

I had no idea - I thought everyone always had to pull over and get out of the way. (I'm guessing at least 90% of drivers think that's the law.)

Thank you for the important lesson!

Gus said...

Thanks for reading and for commenting.

It's important to understand each element of this law. The safe passage of the emergency vehicle is paramount, whether it's a police vehicle, fire equipment or ambulance.

The law is not clearly explained in the 2010 Illinois Rules of the Road (page 27). Some readers of the Rules will read "pull to the right side of the road" as pull over and stop. That's not what it means.

If you read the statute itself, the law is clear.

Bulldog said...

Harris's car did not strike the pole. The 20 year old's truck hit the pole. Harris's car was off in the ditch on the oppisite side of the road. Get the facts straight.

Gus said...

Bulldog commented on 5/12/11: "Harris's car did not strike the pole. The 20 year old's truck hit the pole. Harris's car was off in the ditch on the oppisite side of the road. Get the facts straight."

However, according to the Northwest Herald article:

"The collision pushed the car – a 2000 Ford ZX3 driven by 18-year-old Adam Harris of McHenry – into an electrical pole, (McHenry Police Dept. Deputy Chief Robert) Lumber said."

So, help us out here, Bulldog. What really happened? Were you on the scene? Saw the positions of the vehicles?

Bulldog said...

The Ford truck was the only thing that hit the pole. The car was off on the left. Do you believe everything the NW Herlad reports? And yes I saw the positions of the cars. The truck was against the broken off pole, still running of course. and the other car was in the ditch on the opposite side.

Gus said...

Thanks, Bulldog. Any guess as to whether the driver of the car stopped unnecessarily and other than to permit the safe passage of the squad car? Do you think he needed only to slow and pull toward the right side of the lane? Was there other northbound traffic? Any northbound car that had stopped, perhaps, so that the northbound squad car needed the center of the roadway?