(The Center Square) – A bill to raise the age at which Illinois drivers must take a road test is one step closer to becoming law.
The Illinois Senate Transportation Committee passed House Bill 1226 by a unanimous vote Tuesday. The measure would increase the required behind-the-wheel testing age from 79 to 87.
Ryan Gruenenfelder, senior director of Advocacy and Outreach at AARP Illinois, said the bill is a strong step in the right direction.
“Illinois AARP members have consistently reached out for years, asking why Illinois is the only state in the nation that still uses age as a factor to require people to retake their driving test. They have told us they believe the policy to be age-discriminatory. Let’s be clear. Age alone is not a reliable predictor of driving safety,” Gruenenfelder said.
House Bill 1226, sponsored by state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, has over 100 co-sponsors across both chambers in the General Assembly.
State senator Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, is the Senate sponsor. He said seniors are the safest drivers in America.
“It’s time to adjust this unnecessary and burdensome requirement unfairly placed on our state’s safest drivers,” Villivalam said.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said drivers age 87 and older would still have to visit the DMV and take a driving test every year.
“I would just tell you right now, our bill would not have passed and made it out of committee if we didn’t keep that requirement in there,” Giannoulias explained.
The secretary said Illinois would continue as the strictest state for driver safety and license renewals.
In discussing another provision of the legislation, Giannoulias said HB 1226 would align Illinois with other states by allowing relatives to report unsafe drivers of any age to his office.
“This legislation allows family members who have the best line of sight into a person’s cognitive state to report those concerns and enable action to either get them retested or get them off the road,” Giannoulias said.
HB 1226 was approved by the Illinois House last month and now awaits a full vote in the Senate.
Kevin Bessler contributed to this story.
