An Illinois State Police trooper escaped injury on Thursday morning, October 22, when a passing box truck struck his patrol car during roadside truck inspections on IL-40 near Rock Falls, in Whiteside County, the Illinois State Police said in a release.

Source: Illinois State Police

The trooper, assigned to the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Bureau, was conducting truck inspections with portable scales on northbound IL-40 just south of US 30 at about 10:08 a.m. His squad car was parked on the right shoulder with its emergency lights activated. As he opened the driver's door to step out, a white 2016 Ford box truck failed to move over and struck the door, according to the release, which was also reported by local outlet AroundPtown.

Source: AroundPtown

Neither the trooper nor the truck driver was injured. The driver, identified by police as 24-year-old Benjamin Vogel of Camanche, Iowa, was issued a citation for Improper Passing of a Stationary Emergency Vehicle Causing Property Damage to Another. A citation is a charge, not a conviction.

Why this matters for truckers

The crash is directly relevant to commercial drivers: the trooper was weighing and inspecting trucks when it happened, and Illinois police say it is the 13th Move Over Law-related crash involving their vehicles so far in 2026, with two troopers injured in those incidents. ISP recorded 15 such crashes in 2025, with seven troopers injured, and 27 in 2024, with 12 injuries and one death.

Illinois's Move Over Law, known as Scott's Law, requires every driver to slow down and change lanes away from any emergency vehicle, emergency worker, or vehicle displaying emergency or hazard lights. A first offence carries a fine of no less than $250 and no more than $10,000, and a violation that injures another person can cost the driver their licence, ISP said.