Does Scott's Law Only Apply to Police Cars?
No. The Illinois State Police list police, fire, construction, highway maintenance, tow and ambulance vehicles among those that can legally display the lights this law is built around, and say that list is not limited to those types. The same duty applies to an ambulance on Alby Street, a maintenance truck on IL-100, or a flatbed loading a car on the shoulder of US-67.
An ISP release puts it wider still, describing the duty as owed to an emergency vehicle, an emergency worker, or any vehicle with its emergency or hazard lights activated.
So amber lights count. A rotating beacon on a flatbed is not decoration and it is not advisory; it marks a work area the law expects you to give room to, exactly as a blue light does.
Is Slowing Down Enough, or Do You Have to Change Lanes?
Illinois asks for both, in that order: change lanes if you can, slow down if you cannot. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, noting that all 50 states now have move over laws, puts the rule as changing into a lane not immediately adjacent to the stopped vehicle, or slowing to a reasonable speed where that is not possible.
On a four-lane stretch such as I-270 or IL-3 the lane change is available, and it is the only acceptable answer. On a two-lane road it frequently is not, and that is where drivers get this wrong: they hold their speed because there is nowhere to go.
Come off the accelerator well before you reach the lights, give the shoulder as much of your own lane as oncoming traffic allows, and be ready to stop rather than committed to passing. A driver doing 55 past an open truck door has complied with nothing.
Does It Only Apply on the Interstate?
No. Nothing in the Illinois State Police's description of the law ties it to interstates. It applies wherever an authorized emergency vehicle is working with its lights going, and on this side of Madison County that means two-lane highway far more often than it means I-55. The roads where a tow truck is most likely to be set up around here, IL-100 along the river, IL-140 out toward Jerseyville, Godfrey Road, IL-111 and Wood River Avenue, carry one lane each way with a narrow shoulder or none at all.
What That Looks Like on a Two-Lane Road Like IL-100
On a two-lane road the protected space the law imagines does not exist, so you have to make it. An operator hooking a car on the Great River Road is standing in the traffic lane or within a foot of it, often on a blind curve under the bluffs. Treat the amber lights as a stop sign you may not have to stop for: lift off early, cross the center line only when you can see far enough ahead, and hold back until you can. Thirty seconds is the whole cost of getting it right.
What Changed on January 1, 2026?
Beginning January 1, 2026, Illinois drivers must yield to emergency vehicles displaying flashing lights whether those vehicles are stationary or not, according to the Illinois State Police. Until then the duty most drivers had in mind was anchored to something parked. A squad car coming up behind you on IL-159 now sits inside the same rule as one stopped on the shoulder.
The same guidance extends the duty to emergency workers and to a pedestrian directly involved in an emergency scene. If a trooper is walking between a squad car and a disabled vehicle on the shoulder of I-255, the person is what you are moving over for, not just the vehicle.
How Much Is a Scott's Law Ticket, Really?
The fine is $250 to $10,000 for a first violation and $750 to $10,000 for a second or subsequent one, and that is only the floor. The Illinois State Police set out two further tiers: a violation that results in damage to another vehicle is a Class A misdemeanor, and one that results in injury or death is a Class 4 felony.
Driving privileges move with it. The suspension runs 90 days to one year where another vehicle is damaged, 180 days to two years where a person is injured, and two years where someone is killed. For anyone who drives for a living out of Wood River or Granite City, the suspension ends a career faster than the fine does.
Is This a Chicago Problem, or a Madison County One Too?
It is a statewide pattern, and this corner of the state sits inside one of the busiest patrol areas in it. In a February 2026 release, the Illinois State Police counted 27 Move Over Law-related crashes in 2024, with 12 injuries and one death, and 15 more in 2025 that injured seven troopers.
Those are ISP's own vehicles only, so the statewide total for everyone struck at an Illinois roadside, tow operators and maintenance crews and stranded drivers included, is larger.
The ISP troop covering Madison County also patrols Jersey, Macoupin, Greene, Calhoun, Monroe, St. Clair, Bond, Clinton and Washington counties from headquarters in Collinsville and Litchfield, and is assigned to I-55, I-64, I-255 and I-270. All four run through or past the area this company serves.
What If You Are the One on the Shoulder?
Your hazard lights put you inside the same rule. ISP's wording covers any vehicle with its emergency or hazard lights activated, so passing traffic owes a stopped car on IL-143 the lane change or the speed reduction it owes a squad car. That is worth knowing, and worth not relying on.
The law describes what drivers are supposed to do, not what they will do, and a car stopped on a narrow Illinois shoulder is still the most exposed place on the road. The useful move is to stop being the only thing marking the hazard: an arriving truck adds a second set of lights and a far larger vehicle between the work and live traffic.
That is the argument for calling emergency towing in Alton early rather than spending half an hour seeing whether the car will restart. Where the fix is a jump or a tire, roadside assistance in Alton covers the same ground.