WHAT IS THE NEW ILLINOIS SPEEDING LAW IN 2014?

State lawmakers made some important changes to the Illinois Vehicle Code for 2014. Some changes include an increase in speed limit, a prohibition on talking on the phone while driving without the use of a Bluetooth headset device, but the most important change dealt with the constantly changing speeding law. Previously, a traffic offense in Illinois had never seemed like a serious issue for licensed motorists. However, lawmakers previously amended 730 ILCS 5/5-6-1 to prohibit traffic court judges from giving court supervision on speeding tickets more than 25 miles per hour over the limit. Previously, the law allowed court supervision for speeding in excess of 30 miles per hour over the speed limit up to 40 miles per hour over the limit. However, with the new law speeding 26mph over the speed limit will be a class B misdemeanor and speeding 36 mph over the speed limit will be a class A misdemeanor.

Supervision is a sentence in which the court defers judgment until a later date. During this period of time, if the defendant does not violate the law and complies with all the terms and conditions of the supervision sentence, then the charge will be dismissed. If the defendant is found to have violated the law during the supervision period, a conviction will be entered against him. Although supervision will appear on the defendant’s driving record, it is not a conviction. Since it is not a conviction, it does not affect insurance rates nor does it affect driving privileges.

A conviction, unlike a sentence of court supervision, causes the Secretary of State to impose points to a licensed motorist’s driving record. Unfortunately supervision is now not available for speeding 25 mph over the limit. This Class A Misdemeanor may threaten to suspend a person’s driving privileges. Driver’s license points determine the length of a suspension. In some cases, too many points can result in a revoked license. The points are assigned as follows; speeding 1 to 10 mph above the speed limit will earn 5 points; speeding 11 to 14 mph above the speed limit will earn 15 points, speeding 15 to 25 mph above the speed limit will earn 20 points; and speeding over 25 mph above the speed limit will earn 50 points.

Since court supervision is an option in most instances of speeding, a driver must take advantage of the 2 allotted court supervisions per year. Receiving court supervision on traffic offenses will essentially give the driver two opportunities to receive a speeding ticket without impacting their driving privileges. After using the two allotted court supervisions, the driver is no longer eligible for court supervision and will only receive convictions there forward. At this time, points will begin accumulating based on the charge causing the driver to face a possible suspension.

Sami is experienced at defending criminal and traffic matters. For assistance with a traffic violation or criminal matter, contact Sami at (312) 626-2871.