Officer Describes Close Call On The Road: 'If I Had Been Standing There, I Wouldn't Be Standing Here Today'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- If he'd been outside his patrol car then, he wouldn't be here today.
A Cook County Sheriff's Police Officer talked only to CBS 2's Tara Molina about the close call and why they've got a close eye on drivers breaking Scott's Law.
Officers say the problem of motorists hitting them on the road is getting worse. And the numbers from the past few years back that up.
The officer we talked to hopes speaking out will help change that.
"If I had been standing there, I wouldn't be standing here today," said 28 year veteran officer Conley Dyer, talking about the driver who hit his patrol car on the side of Route 394, just days ago.
"It's becoming extremely dangerous."
Back on the job and driving his patrol car without a mirror, Dyer blames distracted drivers for what he calls a daily close call.
"Last several months we have issued several hundred violations."
Drivers flying by emergency vehicles, and patrol cars like his, pulled over with the lights flashing.
Even though the move over law, or Scott's Law, says all drivers have to move over one lane or slow down.
"Everything goes through your mind," Dyer said.
Like the names of the two State Police Troopers killed in Scott's Law violations last year.
Since October, Cook County Sheriff's Police have written 319 Scott's Law Tickets.
State Police, who wrote the driver who hit Officer Dyer a ticket, wrote 6,300 citations--almost 5,300 more than in 2017 and 2018 combined.
There were more crashes last year than in 2016, 17 and 18 combined.
Fines for Scott's Law went up this year. A first time offender is looking at a minimum $250 ticket.
