Illinois State Police providing real-time GPS 'move over' notifications

[October 04, 2024]   By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois drivers using GPS assistance will soon have real time data provided by Illinois State Police on where they need to slow down and pull over.

A sign outside the Illinois State Police building in Springfield - Greg Bishop / The Center Square

Illinois law requires drivers to slow down and move over if there’s a disabled vehicle, emergency vehicle or traffic stop on the side of the road.

ISP Director Brendan Kelly said too many people are being injured or killed from motorists not slowing down and moving over.

“I’ve cried and prayed with way too many families and way too many vehicles in part because of sometimes deadly crashes that violated the move over law,” Kelly said during a news conference in Chicago Wednesday.

ISP reports two state troopers were killed and dozens injured in such crashes since 2019.

“We hope every single app that has the ability to provide this type of notification, we hope that is the trend,” Kelly said. “But we have to start somewhere and we had a good malleable and cooperative partner with the Waze app and Google.”

The agency said ISP is one of the first law enforcement agencies in the country to provide real-time GPS-based traffic information to help prevent such crashes. crashes.

“This is designed to empower all of us that are on our interstates, on our roads, to be given information ahead of time as they may be coming into an area where an officer is conducting a traffic stop or has pull somebody over for a motorist assist, or debris in the road,” Kelly said.

A driver not getting a notification doesn’t make them immune from violating the law.

“So this is not in anyway a factor in determining our enforcement, this is really designed to be prevention,” Kelly said.

Waze should be receiving data from ISP now. Google is expected to have such data in the weeks ahead.

“The collaboration between [the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology], ISP, and Google Public Sector represents a significant milestone in leveraging innovative technology to protect both drivers and law enforcement officers,” said Illinois DoIT Secretary and Chief Information Officer Sanjay Gupta. “By providing real-time notifications to drivers about police presence on the roadway shoulder, we are improving the safety of the driving environment for everyone. We are proud to be at the forefront of this solution.”