2003 Year in Review

New Illinois Driving Laws for 2004

Secretary of State Jesse White is alerting motorists to new laws which will affect them beginning January 1, 2004. Laws include teen drivers, left lane usage on multi-lane highways, seatbelt changes for children under 8 years of age, and tougher penalties for reckless driving through construction or maintenance zones.

"These new laws serve as important tools to help make our roads even safer for drivers throughout the state of Illinois," White said.

The GDL (graduated driver’s license) law will change to reflect new passenger limitations for beginning teen drivers. For the first six months of a person's license or until the driver is age 18, whichever occurs first, the number of passengers in a vehicle is limited to one person under the age of 20, unless the additional passenger(s) is a sibling, step-sibling, child or step-child of the driver. These restrictions reduce the likelihood a driver will be distracted by a car full of fellow teens.

A conviction for this offense will be entered to the driving record as a non-point assigned violation, similar to a seat belt violation, and is not used to initiate any license sanction.

There are new penalties for driving in the left lane when not passing on highways. This law prohibits excessive use of the left lane of a multi-lane highway for more than one-half mile. Those caught disobeying face a $75 ticket.

An updated penalty for not securing children under 8-years-old in child safety restraints is also a new law. This law says that whenever a person is transporting a child under the age of 8 (previously 4-years-old), the person is responsible for properly securing the child in a booster seat. It also says that every person, when transporting children from age 8 to 16, must properly secure them in seat belts.

Exceptions apply to children weighing more than 40 pounds traveling in vehicles that are only equipped with lap belts in the back seat. Those children must be transported in the back seat of a motor vehicle with the lap belts secured. The penalty for those who do not follow the child restraint laws is a $75 ticket.

New tougher penalties and mandatory minimum jail sentences for reckless homicide in a construction or maintenance zone. If a driver is found to have committed reckless homicide in a construction or maintenance zone, that person is guilty of a Class 2 felony (previously a Class 3 felony).

The new penalty means that if the person were sentenced to prison, that person would face a minimum of three to 14 years in prison. If the driver kills two or more people in the construction or maintenance zone, the penalty would increase and the driver would face a minimum of six to 28 years in prison.

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
December 30, 2003