Why is Illinois the only state to take driver's licenses for speeding?

When Tracy Chappell, 26, was eight months pregnant at the beginning of June, she was stopped for speeding in Niles.

Even though her husband, a police officer, was sitting in the passenger's seat, she had to hand over her driver's license.

Ever since then, she has faced numerous hurdles by having to navigate life without an ID.

"I was so annoyed," Chappell said when she tried to return merchandise to Babies "R" Us and the clerk insisted she show a photo ID. "I was like, 'I just hobbled in here with stolen merchandise?'æ" she said.

OK, so taking away your license is a pain. But that's just the way it is, right? Actually, it's not.

It turns out, Illinois is the only state that does this. We just think it's normal because it's been legal here since the '60s.

In most other states, officers hand you a ticket and then you're expected to mail in your fine.

There are some states that'll take your license if you're stopped for drunken driving, like California, or if you're an out-of-state driver, like in Michigan. And if you're stopped in Georgia, the police officer can take you straight to jail if he sees fit.

While officers in Illinois do have discretion to allow a motorist to keep their license, it is rarely exercised, said Richard Casler, Schaumburg's director of police.

There is no law in Illinois allowing officers to take licenses. Instead, the policy is a rule set down by the Illinois Supreme Court, which decides how laws should be enforced.

Some officials have advocated a change. The Illinois Council of Chief Judges has decided to consider changing the rule, and a council committee is looking into the matter.

Our research, with the help of Peggy Rogers with the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Va., involved scouring both laws and court-imposed rules on the topic in all 50 states. We couldn't find anything resembling the Prairie State's policies.

Rogers said there could be similar laws in individual counties or municipalities around the country, but on a statewide level, it seems Illinois is the only one.

Some national experts contacted didn't even believe this is Illinois' policy.

"There aren't any states that do that type of thing," Matt Sudeen, program principal of transportation at the National Conference of State Legislatures and one of the foremost experts on driver's licenses in the country, said in an e-mail.

Illinois' policy isn't just rare. It's a problem, some experts say, and it's woefully outdated in our heavily-ID'd world.

"I think many years ago, it was like, well, if we take your driver's license you're more likely to come to court," says state Rep. Dennis Reboletti of Elmhurst. "I think we're a little bit behind the times. People are very reliant on driver's licenses."

IDs needed more

Once your license is taken away, all of a sudden you start realizing how much you need it.

You can't buy NyQuil at Walgreens. You can't buy a bottle of wine for your friend's birthday party. You can't buy that "24" video game you've been wanting to get because it's rated Mature and the guy at Gamestop won't let you purchase it without an ID.

If you look young, you might not be able to get into an R-rated movie. Or how about returning something at a store on a credit card? Don't bet on it. And that is not even mentioning the fact you can't get on an airplane or get served at a bar.

And some say there is a more important issue.

"I think because of the heightened security in this nation, photo IDs are necessary," said Vernon Kays, clerk of the circuit court of McHenry County.

Ret. Gen. Todd Stewart, who serves as the director of the Program for International and Homeland Security at The Ohio State University, said Illinois' policy presents a serious homeland security problem.

"We are in an environment where there is a greater demand than there was 30 or 40 years ago to show a photo ID," Stewart says. "I'm a little bit surprised that taxpayers aren't up in arms about it."

Chris Kachiroubas is one person who is up in arms about it. When he ran for clerk of the circuit court in DuPage County in 2004, he championed changing the rule. Kachiroubas said Illinois' policy of confiscating licenses is bad for homeland security, an unnecessary inconvenience for drivers and a waste of millions of dollars a year.

Almost 2.8 million traffic tickets were issued in Illinois in 2005, according to data from the Illinois Supreme Court. Kachiroubas says it costs between $5 and $6 to process every license that winds its way through the system.

He said each license has to be brought from the squad car to the precinct, then delivered to the clerk of the county court, where they have to create a file for each one, make sure it's matched up with the payment that you send in and either mailed back to you or brought to the court on the day you appear.

In a Daily Herald interview in 2004, Kachiroubas said 186,000 tickets were issued in DuPage in 2003, and about 60 percent of those were mailed back, costing the county roughly $547,500 a year. There is no statewide data about how many licenses are mailed back each year.

Wheels of change

About a year and a half ago, the Illinois Council of Chief Judges, made up of the chief judges in each county, decided to consider changing the rule. They formed a committee to look into the issue and invited Kachiroubas to take part. The committee has been meeting roughly every other month.

Their biggest hurdle has been trying to figure out how to ensure people pay their tickets if their licenses aren't taken away.

Deborah Seyller, clerk of the circuit court of Kane County, said it's mainly downstate clerks who don't want to change the status quo because they are more dependent on the revenue from traffic tickets and they're concerned they'll lose money if they don't have something hanging over people's heads.

The best solution is to suspend people's licenses if they don't pay their tickets, Seyller said.

"People come in very quickly if they find out they can't renew their licenses," she says.

Kachiroubas, on the other hand, wants to install credit card machines in squad cars so that when you're pulled over, you could just hand your credit card to the officer and pay your fine on the spot.

"I got a ticket in 1984 or 1985 in Wisconsin," Kachiroubas said. "(The officer) said, 'I'll take your credit card.' Zip zip. Fast forward 20 years later, why can't we do that here?"

Judge Jeffrey Ford of Champaign, the chairman of the committee, says it has brought in finance experts to help the judges decide what kind of economic impact it would have if drivers aren't forced to hand over their licenses.

The committee is expected to wrap up deliberations by the end of the year and present a recommendation to the entire council.

If the guidelines are approved, they'd be passed on to the Illinois Supreme Court, which would then have to give its blessing.

After that, it's possible that getting your license taken away when you get a ticket could be a thing of the past.

Keith Beyler, a Southern Illinois University law professor and a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee, estimates the entire process could take about 12 to 18 months.

Not so fast

Not everyone agrees confiscating driver's licenses is a bad idea.

"I think it's been working for many years, and I don't see any problem at all," said Tom Moran, a Skokie lawyer who specializes in traffic cases.

Moran also says if people are allowed to pay their fines on the spot with a credit card, they might be more likely to hand over their credit card without thinking and tacitly agree to wrongdoing they may not have committed. "Many times people are unaware of the consequences of that plea," he said.

State Rep. Harry "Randy" Ramey of West Chicago also opposes allowing people to pay fines by credit card.

"I don't think the police officer should be the retail merchant," Ramey said. "Make the people come to court and be responsible for their actions."

Ramey also said the counties aren't really losing money by mailing back licenses because the speeding tickets cover the costs.

Ramey said he has no patience for drivers who complain about a lack of ID. Motorists can obtain a AAA card, a bond card or $75 in cash to hand to the officer instead.

"Any time you go into a driver's license facility, they ask if you want to get a state ID card," he says. "Even young people, they're told to get an ID card as a second form of identification."

"A driver's license is a privilege, not a right," he says. "If you break the law, then that license is taken away."

•Beep staff writer Nathan Ronchetti contributed to this report.