Illinois Drivers With Suspended or Revoked Licenses Are Likely to be Repeat Traffic Offenders

 Posted on April 20, 2016 in Traffic Offenses

Ifyour license has been revoked or suspended, a greatburden is placed on you to get around without driving yourself. In order to be in compliance with your sentence, you have to not drive, and may have to take abus, walk, or hitch a ride with friends. However, many individualswho are serving a driver’s license revocation or suspension sentence choose to drive themselves without a license, and hope that they do not get caught.

While it is never advisable, people who have a suspended or revoked license get behind the wheel and may ultimately be caught when they commit some other traffic violation and cannot produce a driver’s license for the law enforcement officer that pulled them over.

Driving With a Revoked or Suspended License a Persistent Problem

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune highlighted the persistent nature of this issue. Noting statistics from the AAA Foundation, the article notes howthis problem has been on the rise for more than two decades. Despite numerous attempts to discourage drivers who have suspended or revoked licenses from driving, many still do. More than 30,000 people in Illinois are are convicted for driving with a suspended or revoked license each year.

The article theorizes that the problem stems from police officers having too few resources to charge these drivers with felony charges. Writing up a driver with a misdemeanor charge who is driving on a revoked or suspended license can cost the officer up to 45 minutes of his or her time. However, writing up the driver with a felony can take up to two hours, and requires the officer to take the driver into custody.

By taking a driver into custody, it takes an officer away from patrolling for gang violence and other public safety issues. Booking people for driving offenses seems like a lower priority when compared to intervening in a domestic violence situation, responding to an emergency call, or responding to serious car accidents or reported crimes.

Repeat Offenders Prompt Police, State Reps to Propose a Solution

While the problem of drivers driving on suspended or revoked licenses seems unsolvable, that does not stop law enforcement and state representatives from discussing ways to potentially prevent this from happening. Some proposed ideas include automatically making driving with a suspended or revoked license a felony for drivers who have a history of committing driving offenses once their license has been revoked or suspended. Another idea is to increase the length of time that a person’s driver’s license is suspended or revoked in the first place. These possible solutions are merely in the brainstorming phase of development and no proposed legislation to that effect has been made yet.

Our Attorneys Can Help You Today

If you have been charged with driving without a license, a suspended license, or a revoked license, you need to hire an experienced traffic offenses lawyer immediately. Please contact a passionate Rolling Meadows traffic offense attorney for professional assistance. We are eager to help you throughout each step of your case.

Source:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-license-revocations-met-20150201-story.html