Don't pull license when pulled over

In Illinois, you need a license to drive.

But you also need that license to board an airplane. Or to get a marriage license.

There are occasions when you must show a driver's license to complete a financial transaction.

You even have to present a driver's license to a pharmacist to buy cold medicines that can be used to make methamphetamine.

So it can be a real hassle when you have to give up that license, which happens in Illinois when you are pulled over for speeding.

As Beep writer Lauren Heist reported in Beep and the Daily Herald on Wednesday, Illinois Supreme Court rules give police officers the authority to take licenses after issuing speeding tickets, as a guarantee motorists will follow through by either paying the ticket or appearing in court to challenge it.

Certainly people have to be responsible for their actions. But there has to be a better way to ensure compliance with a traffic law than to terribly inconvenience people by temporarily denying them a vital means of identification. After all, no other state uses a license confiscation system to enforce speeding laws.

Look at what other states are doing. Motorists can keep their licenses with the promise to pay the fine by mail or phone. Or they can arrange a court date in the same manner. If there is no follow-through, licenses can be suspended.

Some states allow motorists to settle speeding fines online. Still others can pay the fine or post bond by credit card, swiped through a computer in the squad car.

Or the solution could be to encourage police officers in Illinois not to confiscate licenses, which they do at their discretion under the rules.

It's not a matter of license confiscation merely being an nuisance. It's also a costly way to enforce the law.

DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk Chris Kachiroubas, who favors a change in the speeding ticket enforcement system, said it costs between $5 and $6 to process licenses taken from traffic law violators. Those processing fees can add up to huge sums, given almost 2.8 million traffic tickets were issued in Illinois in 2005.

Changes could be on the way. Our story has motivated some state lawmakers to look at ways to end the practice of confiscating licenses for speeding and other traffic violations. And an Illinois Council of Chief Judges committee is looking at other ways to motivate motorists to make good on their tickets.

There are motorists who should have their licenses taken from them -- drunken drivers, reckless drivers, those with multiple speeding violations -- in the interest of public safety. Their licenses should be suspended.

But those who get an occasional speeding ticket should not have to be without an ID that they must have in their possession at a time of greater scrutiny of identity in the interest of security.