Daily Herald opinion: It’s about time Illinois changed senior driving law
After several years of gridlock in the legislature, Illinois seniors received great news on Friday.
In 2023, we wrote that the state inched forward in regards to treating seniors with the respect they deserved when it raised the age of mandatory annual driver’s tests from 75 to 79.
Last week, the state took a big step forward.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation raising the age for mandatory road exams for seniors from 79 to 87.
Under the current law, Illinois is the only state in the nation that requires drivers aged 79 and 80 to take a road exam when their four-year license renewal is up. For drivers aged 81 to 86, it’s every two years, and for those 87 and older, it’s yearly.
As Daily Herald transportation columnist Marni Pyke has detailed in her coverage of the issue, data from the Illinois Department of Transportation shows that drivers get into fewer accidents as they age.
The new law, which goes into effect July 1, 2026, requires drivers over the age of 81 to pass a vision test every two years during an in-person renewal. Rules for drivers over age 87 remain unchanged.
The new bill also allows immediate relatives of unsafe drivers — regardless of age — to report problems to the secretary of state’s office. Illinois was one of five states that didn’t allow relatives to report concerns about drivers. Immediate relatives are more likely to notice changes that should keep drivers off the road than a test every couple of years.
When first introduced in 2023, we supported changes to senior driving rules, and we continue to today.
People are living longer, and with advances in health care, have better cognitive skills than past generations. A one-size-fits-all rule for older drivers no longer applies, if it ever did.
Is 87 the correct age to start mandatory testing? Should vision testing start at 81? It’s hard to say. Every driver is different. Those are issues that the Illinois secretary of state and legislatures should continue to monitor. If the data suggests making changes, the state should do so as soon as possible. A two-year process to make changes — like we just endured — is unacceptable.
There are plenty of reasons other than age for keeping someone off the road. This law gives residents the ability to do that, while not burdening older drivers with the stress and headache of unnecessary testing.
At the end of the day, the state should be ensuring that unsafe drivers are not on our roads. This law does nothing to weaken that goal, while removing discrimination against older drivers.