Article Summary
- Beginning July 1, only drivers aged 87 and older will be required to take a driving test annually to renew their license.
- Drivers 79 and older will still be required to take a vision test, and immediate family can report cognitive or physical health issues.
- The law comes after a 2023 report showed older drivers are involved in the least number of crashes compared to any other age group.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
A law taking effect July 1 will raise the age at which older drivers must take a driving test to renew their license.
The 2025 law, titled the Road Safety and Fairness Act, also creates a process for immediate family members to report cognitive or physical health declines to the state for review.
The minimum age for a driving test will be raised from 79 to 87, although drivers 79 and older will still be required to take a vision test, and if they have a driving violation, a written test.
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Drivers between the ages of 81 and 86 must renew in-person every two years. The law for drivers aged 87 and older — annual license renewal with both a vision and driving test — will not change.
In 2022, the General Assembly and the secretary of state worked to adjust license requirements through emergency rulemaking power and a later trailer bill, amid a pandemic-driven backlog of license renewals.
Illinois still has one of the strictest renewal requirements for older drivers. But a 2023 report from Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias shows drivers aged 75 and older are involved in the least number of crashes compared to any other age group.
The Road Safety and Fairness Act passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support in May 2025 and was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in August.
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.
