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February 24, 2005

Dave Druker
Randy Nehrt

White Pushes For Law To Limit Drivers To One Court Supervision Every 12 Months

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White proposed legislation today that would limit drivers to one court supervision for moving violations in a 12-month period. Any other moving violation a driver is found guilty of during that period would result in a conviction reported to the individual's permanent driving record.

White said the legislation is necessary because a small percentage of Illinois drivers have received too many dispositions of court supervision in recent years. Some drivers have been granted court supervision more than a dozen times in a single year, keeping the offenses off their permanent records and stopping White from taking action against the drivers for those violations.

"Nearly 3,800 drivers were granted court supervision for more than three traffic violations last year, including one driver who received court supervision 14 times," White said. "This small, yet dangerous, percentage of drivers shouldn't be allowed to use court supervision to hide their poor driving records."

In 1999, White pushed for a law that required every county to report dispositions of court supervision to the Secretary of State. He created a database the courts use to check if a driver had received court supervision for any moving violations. Prior to the creation of that database, there wasn't any mechanism for a judge in one county to know if the driver had been given court supervision in another county.

While just one percent of all licensed drivers have been granted multiple court supervisions in each of the past four years, a few thousand of those drivers have been granted court supervision more than three times in each twelve month period. Last year, 3,785 drivers received court supervision for more than three offenses, 128 drivers received court supervision more than six times and one driver received court supervision 14 times. Over the past three years, 28 drivers have received court supervision 10 or more times in a twelve-month period.

"This legislation would still allow drivers to keep an occasional moving violation off their permanent records," White said. "But more importantly, it will make a driver's permanent record a more accurate reflection of driving habits. We need to hold drivers accountable for all their violations and suspend the privileges of those who continually break the state's traffic laws."

State Rep. Lisa Dugan (D-Kankakee) and State Rep. Paul Froehlich (R-Schaumburg) are the chief sponsors of House Bill 1483.