Your license has been suspended due to your conviction for a traffic-related offense. You adhere to the terms of your punishment, including serving jail time and paying fines. You take required classes to show that you have learned from your mistakes. Now, your suspension period has ended, and you are eligible for reinstatement of your driver’s license. You are confident because you have done everything asked of you. However, it would be a mistake to treat your driver’s license reinstatement hearing as a formality. The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office will subject you to great scrutiny during the hearing to ensure that it is safe to reinstate your driving privileges. Going into the hearing unprepared can result in disaster and disappointment.

Reinstatement Requirements

The Illinois Secretary of State’s office can restrict driving privileges by suspending or revoking a person’s driver’s license. Courts use suspension as a punishment for people who:

The Illinois House of Representatives approved a bill that would create an additional requirement for rescinding a statutory summary suspension following an arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The law would require a court to provide the Illinois Secretary of State’s office with a factual reason for the decision before the office will comply with an order to rescind the driver’s license suspension. The bill still must receive approval from the Illinois Senate and governor before it becomes a law.

Statutory Summary Suspension

The Secretary of State can take civil action against a DUI suspect before a criminal trial by issuing a statutory summary suspension or revocation of the suspect’s driver’s license. The suspension applies to people arrested for DUI who either refused the blood alcohol concentration test or had test results that showed that their BAC was over the legal limit. The suspension begins 46 days after the suspect receives a notice of summary suspension. The duration varies, depending on the circumstances:

Reinstating your Illinois driver’s license after it has been suspended or revoked requires attending a hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State’s office. The type of hearing you receive depends on the infraction that caused you to lose your license:

• Those who lost their licenses due to a traffic fatality or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol must attend formal hearings; and
• Those who committed more minor traffic offenses can attend informal hearings.

The purpose of any hearing is for you to explain to the hearing officer why your driving privileges should be reinstated in full or on a restricted basis. However, a formal hearing is a more arduous process.

An arrest and conviction for driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs or alcohol can lead to serious consequences for a driver. In addition to the possibility of jail time, drivers also face license suspension and fines that can seriously impact their lives. While these consequences are generally still in effect, this year brought with it new changes to Illinois DUI laws that will be a welcome relief to some drivers convicted of DUI.

Under the new changes, Illinois drivers who have two or more DUI convictions will now be required to have a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device installed on their car for five years, in addition to obtaining a Restricted Driver's Permit in order to drive their vehicles and later have their licenses reinstated.

A BAIID device records a driver's blood alcohol content after a driver blows into it, and therefore prevents the driver from driving if his or her blood alcohol level is over .025. BAIID devices also take photographs of the person blowing into the device to ensure the permitted driver is the one driving the vehicle. The Secretary of State has a division that monitors the installation of BAIID devices on the vehicles of eligible drivers, as well as monitors the readings from the devices.