Police Department

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Fox Lake Police Department

301 S. Route 59

Fox Lake, IL 60020

P - 847-587-3100

F - 847-587-2776

 

Chief of Police: Michael Behan

Fox Lake Explorers

From:  The Members of the Fox Lake Motor Unit

1. Notice when you are starting to become frustrated and stressed.
2. Be patient and courteous
3. Avoid all conflict even if you are right

 

Remember everyone makes mistakes, give fellow drivers the benefit of the doubt. Treat others the way you would wish to be treated.

 

We have one other issue we want to touch on briefly. 

 

When you see an Emergency Vehicle with its lights or lights and siren activated, you ARE supposed to pull to the right side of the road, slowdown or stop.  PLEASE DO THIS!  Do not pull to the left.  First responders are trained to pass vehicles on the left when responding to emergency service calls.  Please keep all this in mind when traveling this year.  Help make it a safe one.

         

ROAD RAGE!

As the surrounding communities and the Village of Fox Lake grow, we are all seeing and experiencing an increase in traffic and traffic related problems.  Two of the problems which seem to be festering and appearing on a frequent basis are incidents of road rage and traffic accidents caused by aggressive drivers.  You as members of the driving community are directly responsible for both.  Yes, we as your Police Department can help deter such incidents, but we cannot be everywhere at once.  We all know this, so the majority of the responsibility to avert such problems ultimately is the driving community's responsibility.  Obviously vigilante justice and the general public doing traffic stops on traffic offenders are real bad ideas.  so what can the driving community do to help reduce these incidents and keep our roads safer?

 

WHAT THE HECK IS AGGRESSIVE DRIVING?   

Aggressive driving is when you are operating your motor vehicle in such a way that would make the roadways unsafe for your fellow drivers.  These unsafe actions would likely endanger people and property.  Here are some actions that could be considered as aggressive actions by drivers.

 

1. Yelling and making obscene hand gestures to fellow drivers.
2. Speeding
3. Driving to close to the vehicle in front of you, riding the bumper of the guy who's doing the posted limits.

Honking your darn horn repeatedly!

4. Slamming on your brakes so that the other guy who is on your bumper might crash into you.  I can't understand why someone would do this!
5. Passing in a no passing zone or on the shoulder.
6. Cutting off fellow drivers.

We could go on with examples for hours.  These actions are all very serious and could cause someone or yourself to become involved in a fatal or serious injury accident. Here are some ideas to avoid aggressive drivers or dangerous situations; it is definitely to your advantage to avoid them.

1. Do not underestimate the aggressive driver's potential for violence.  I have arrested several out of control drivers who decide to jump out of their vehicle to hit someone.
2. Do not retaliate or egg on the aggressive jerk who is making the roads unsafe for everyone.  Get out of the aggressive driver's way as safely as you can.
3. Do not make eye contact.
4. Keep your door locked and windows up while in the presence of an aggressive driver.
5. Keep enough space between you and the vehicle in front of you in case you need to pull away from an accident.
6. What can you do to avoid becoming an aggressive driver and nuisance to everyone?