Shoulder crackdown: Cook County Sheriff launches high-tech sting on dangerous drivers

COOK COUNTY - We’ve all seen it: impatient motorists snaking through traffic, weaving between lanes and treating the emergency shoulder like it’s just another express lane.

For years, drivers got away with it — no warning, no stop, no consequences. Until now.

On Aug. 27, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office deployed what it calls its "big gun" in the fight against illegal shoulder driving: a new $11 million helicopter equipped with advanced surveillance technology.

"It’s a useful tool they now have," said Jim Gosling, a tactical flight officer with the sheriff’s police department. "Before, they were borrowing helicopters. Now, the Cook County Sheriff’s Department has their own."

Tech that reveals all

On board the aircraft is a state-of-the-art MX-10 camera system with night vision so sharp it can pick up tiny movements — even someone scratching their chin in the dark.

Gosling, the man behind the camera, controls the system using what he calls "the hammer."

"I can zoom in, switch to infrared. It’s extremely helpful," Gosling said.

From hundreds of feet above, Gosling and his pilot scan for shoulder riders, tracking each vehicle’s make, model, color and plate before alerting deputies on the ground.

"They’ll tell us along the way what the infractions are," said Cook County Sheriff’s Officer Lakesha Palomino.

Hundreds of drivers cited

Since the operation began in June before the chopper was in action, the sheriff’s office has issued more than 700 citations to motorists illegally using the shoulder. 

The enforcement push has also led to:

• 35 arrests
• 11 vehicle tows
• 54 registration violations
• 43 driver’s license violations

Deputies say shoulder driving isn’t just infuriating — it’s dangerous.

"I sit on 290 myself sometimes… then you’ll see somebody driving down the shoulder real fast," Gosling said, noting the domino-effect crashes that often follow.

Excuses, excuses

Palomino says she’s heard every excuse imaginable.

"They’re in a rush to get to work, they’re pregnant, they have to use the washroom — the list goes on," said Palomino.

As an everyday driver herself, she admitted the behavior infuriates her.

"Just because they feel it's an emergency doesn't mean everyone else doesn’t have someplace to be," she said. "You need to be in traffic like every other motorist."

Palomino didn’t have to wait long to catch her first violator of the day. Body camera video shows her confronting a driver with heavily-tinted windows who insisted she "wasn’t doing anything."

"You passed the point of merging. You were riding the shoulder," Palomino explained.

The driver eventually admitted it and was issued a citation.

A price that stings

For first-time offenders, the penalty is steep:

"It starts as a $250 fine and three days of community service," Roe Conn, chief of strategy and communications for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

That community service often includes cleaning up the same highways where they were caught driving illegally.

"It’s a four-month process," said Conn.

Repeat offenses escalate quickly.

"The second violation is $500… it can go up to a thousand bucks," said Conn. "It can mean multiple weeks of roadside cleanup."

More than just tickets

During FOX 32 Chicago’s ride-along, deputies issued over 100 shoulder-use tickets in less than three hours.

Some stops uncovered more serious violations.

"This driver has suspended plates and a suspended license," Conn noted during a traffic stop.

The SUV was towed on the spot. The driver will need to appear before a judge, resolve her insurance issues, and pay fines before she can legally drive again.

Shoulder riding isn’t only selfish — it’s lethal.

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 63% of fatal crashes involving roadside assistance providers between 2015 and 2021 happened when a vehicle left its lane and struck the shoulder.

Sheriff Tom Dart says shoulder riders often believe they can duck back into traffic before being spotted.

"We already have all the video footage from up above," Dart said. "We just get behind the person, put the lights on, and pull them over."

FOX 32 Chicago watched that play out in real time as deputies pursued a shoulder violator identified from the sky.

What's next:

Illinois State Police say shoulder misuse is dramatically underreported the numbers aren’t all-inclusive, meaning ‘driving on the shoulder’ could’ve been a contributing factor for a crash but a citation wasn’t necessarily issued for one reason or another.

The following number of ‘11-709.1 Driving on the Shoulder’ citations were issued by ISP as a direct result of on-scene crash investigations that occurred in Cook County:

• 2023: 50
• 2024: 50
• 2025 YTD: 60

The sheriff’s office says this new shoulder-sting operation is just getting started and drivers should consider themselves warned.

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