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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.
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