CHICAGO, IL - We know our highways by name, not by number: the Dan Ryan, the Kennedy, the Stevenson, the Edens and Lake Shore Drive.

But one number is alarming the droves of people who drive those routes every day. 20.

As of Friday, May 27, 20 shootings have taken place on Chicago's expressways this year. That's already more than double the total from all of 2012 and on pace to shatter the record of 37 reported just last year. Violence on the city's highways is on the rise, and everyone knows it. But not everyone agrees on its primary cause and how to react to the alarming number of shootings even before the official start of summer.

"I want everyone to know that they will be safe on the expressways," said Leo Schmitz, director of the Illinois State Police, the law enforcement body that holds jurisdiction on interstate highways. "We will not tolerate shootings on the expressways. (Chicago Police Department) detectives and our investigators are sharing information. We got meetings set up and we will be following up and prosecuting anybody shooting on the expressways." Get Patched In



Get News Alerts, Join Facebook Pages and Learn About Patch Do you actually feel safe? Brian Althimer, a WGN radio producer, spends many of his nights moonlighting as a security manager on Chicago's North Side. He's not afraid of what goes on during the overnight hours on that side of town, but the dangers of that job require him to wear a bulletproof vest. His vest was tucked away in the trunk of his car early in the morning last Saturday while driving home from his night gig on Lake Shore Drive. He now wishes he was wearing that vest. While driving south on Lake Shore Drive nearing Jackson Boulevard, Althimer said, he noticed a tan SUV following closely behind him.

"As I got close to Roosevelt, the SUV pulled up beside me and the guy (black male dreads) looked at me and pointed a gun at me," he later wrote on Facebook. "Luckily, I broke quickly and made a right on Roosevelt and called the police." 'Sick Game of Initiation' Althimer told Patch in an interview later in the week that everything "happened so suddenly" and that he wonders, in retrospect, what would have happened had he stayed on Lake Shore Drive and not made a quick break to lose the pursuers in the SUV. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Althimer said he has never before been a victim of violence. "This was random," he said. "Totally random. Back in the '90s, violence was bad but nothing like it is today." He wonders whether the reason behind the rise in expressway gun violence is that it's "easier for them to get away" or whether it's part of "some sick game of initiation."

Eddie Johnson, superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, doesn't dismiss the idea that some highway shootings are an initiation. "That's always a possibility. I couldn't tell you 100 percent … I'm sure there is a very small percent that could be, but for the most part it's two people out there with guns willing to use them." From now on, Althimer will be wearing his vest whenever he drives within city limits overnight or in the early morning hours. "I honestly don't feel safe in my own city," he said. "I'm a big guy, but these dudes out here are on some other agenda. ... Until (police) figure out how to stop the madness, I will wear my vest while driving because I don't feel safe." Gang-Related Schmitz, the State Police director, said most of this year's expressway shootings are the result of gang-related conflicts. "Some of those conflicts may start in neighborhoods and end up on the expressway — that way our Chicago detectives and [ISP] investigators can work together," he said. "We may have information that Chicago police may not have and CPD may have information we don't have."