Illinois lawmakers pass bill to raise age of senior driving tests

SPRINGFIELD – A bill unanimously passed by the Senate on Thursday and on its way to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk will increase the age that senior drivers in Illinois are required to take an annual driver’s test.

Currently, if a driver renews their driver’s license between the ages of 79 and 80, they are required to take a driving test. Drivers between 81 and 86 are required to take a driving test every two years, and drivers 87 and older have to take the test annually.

If Pritzker signs House Bill 1226, sponsored by Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, only drivers 87 and older will have to take an annual driver’s test. Illinois drivers between 79 and 86 won’t be required to take a driver’s test to renew their license; instead, they’ll only have to take a vision test, and if they have a driving violation, a written test.

The bill would also allow a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling or child of any Illinois driver to submit medical information about the driver to the secretary of state if they think the person’s medical condition interferes with their driving abilities. Currently, only medical officials, police officers and state’s attorneys can submit such information.

HB 1226, also called the Road Safety and Fairness Act, has garnered bipartisan support. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced his support for the bill in January alongside lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. The bill was conceived by a constituent of Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, last year.

The bill has 86 cosponsors in the House and 35 in the Senate.

Illinois is the only state that requires seniors to pass a driving test solely due to their age. But state data indicates that older drivers tend to have lower crash rates.

In 2023, the crash rate for drivers aged 75 and older was 24.61 per 1,000 drivers, which was lower than any other age group, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The low crash rate has been consistent since at least 2018, according to the Secretary of State’s Office’s 2023 Study on Age-Related Driving Abilities.

The crash rate is more than double for many of the other age groups.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

Jade Aubrey

Jade Aubrey is a Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) student in the School of Communication and Media at the University of Illinois-Springfield. The program trains students to become journalists who specialize in news coverage of governmental affairs.

UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR)

The Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) master's program is offered by the School of Communication and Media at the University of Illinois-Springfield. The program trains students to become journalists who produce intelligent news coverage that helps audiences understand government, politics and other public affairs.