Published on:

By

For many, the most troublesome part of an arrest for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in Illinois is the loss of your driver’s license. A single DUI conviction results in a driver’s license revocation. 625 ILCS 5/6-205(a)(2) This includes out-of-state convictions. 625 ILCS 5/6-206(a)(6)

A revocation causes the termination of your driver’s license and your privilege to operate a motor vehicle upon the Illinois roadways. You must have a hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State if your license is revoked. However, before you can request a full license, you must wait out the revocation period, which can be 1, 5 or 10 years.

A single DUI conviction in Illinois, or an out-of-state conviction that the other state reports to Illinois, causes a revocation for one year (the waiting period). If you have two convictions within 20 years of each other, your revocation will be in effect for five years. A third conviction, no matter how many years it occurs from the second conviction, will result in your being revoked for ten years. 625 ILCS 5/6-208
Because it is a revocation, you do not receive your license back after a year. You must have a driver’s license hearing and meet all the requirements of the Secretary of State. 625 ILCS 5/2-118; 92 Illinois Administrative Code § 1000.10 et. seq.

However, depending upon the status of your statutory summary suspension (SSS), you may be entitled to request a hardship license (RDP). This privilege only applies if you are what is known as a “first offender”, meaning that you have not been arrested for a DUI in the previous five years. 625 ILCS 5/11-500
First offenders may apply for an RDP with the Secretary of State during the SSS. The SSS for a first offender who agrees to give a breath or blood test is six months. It is one year if you do not agree to provide a sample.

Non-first offenders must wait out their entire suspension, a period of time that will be one or three years. The suspension will run for one year if you give a breath or blood sample at the time of the most recent DUI and three years if you refuse. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1 Even if you have a driver’s license issued by another state, that foreign license will not be valid in Illinois if your driving privileges are revoked here.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Just about any police officer that receives training in Driving Under the Influence (DUI) investigations has been instructed in the use of the standardized field sobriety tests (SFST). Many are familiar with the concept of SFST from Hollywood productions, usually in the comedy genre.

The video, while humorous, does illustrate the supposed evolution of DUI law. At one time, it was the Wild, Wild West when it came to what SFST were administered and how they were conducted and graded. There was nothing to show that the tests proved anything about whether or not the subject was impaired by alcohol, or how the tests should be administered.

There are two different ways to charge DUI, one being actual impairment and the other being driving with a blood alcohol level (BAL) of .08 or greater, without the need to prove impairment. 625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1)(2); 625 ILCS 5/11-501.2 There are driver’s license penalties associated with submitting to a breath or blood tests and registering over .08, or refusing to submit. In addition, the results of the test, or a refusal to agree to provide the tests, are admissible in the DUI prosecution. 625 ILCS 5/11-501.2
The field sobriety tests used in the past included reciting the alphabet, finger-to-nose, walk-and-turn (WAT), counting backwards, Romberg, the one-legged-stand (OLS), a portable breath test (PBT) and the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims it commissioned studies that validated the WAT, OLS and HGN as reliable indicators that someone is likely to have a blood alcohol level of .08 or greater, which is the standard in all 50 states, thanks to federal agencies like NHTSA.

So the tests are not designed to detect actual impairment but rather to assess the likelihood that someone is at or above .08. However, the tests are used when the only charge is actual impairment, in other words, in those case where there is no BAC reading.

Some consider the SFST to be “junk science” or in other words, science bought and paid for my NHTSA. Essentially, the argument goes, NHTSA came up with a theory and then paid someone with a scientific background to validate the theory.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

There are criminal and administrative sanctions in Illinois for alcohol-related arrests. Criminal consequences of an Illinois DUI refer to jail, fines, probation, Victim Impact panel, alcohol assessment and classes and community service.

Administrative sanctions involve your driver’s license, which can be suspended or revoked, or both, as a result of alcohol issues, some of which do not even require that you be driving if you are under the age of 21. For a DUI arrest, a Statutory Summary Suspension (SSS) of your driver’s license can occur.

The SSS applies if you are asked to provide a breath or blood sample and register above the level limit of .08, or refuse to take a test. 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1 The length of the suspension varies, depending upon whether you submitted to, or refused testing, and upon whether you have had a DUI arrest during the previous five years.

If there is no arrest in the last five years, you are considered a “first offender” for SSS purposes. 625 ILCS 5/11-500. A first offender who agrees to testing will be suspended for six months if the blood alcohol content is .08 or higher. A first offender who refuses will be suspended for twelve months.

After 30 days, any first offender is eligible to request a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP). 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1; 206.1 If a first offender is convicted of the DUI, he is eligible to request a hearing with the Illinois Secretary for a Restricted Driving Permit (RDP) provided he can demonstrate that lack of driving privileges has created an undue hardship.

A non-first offender (a DUI within the previous five years) will be suspended for one year if there is a test and three years if there is not. He is eligible for neither an MDDP nor an RDP. He cannot drive at all, even for limited purposes.

If you are under 21, you can lose your driver’s license even if you are not guilty of DUI. This is the “zero tolerance” law. If the police stop you for a traffic violation and issue you a citation and suspect you have been drinking, they can ask you to give breath or blood simples.

If you register above zero, your license will be suspended for three months. If you do not give a test, it will be suspended for six months. The penalties increase if this is not your first offense. It’s one year if you test and two years if you refuse. 625 ILCS 5/11-501.8; 625 ILCS 5/6-208.2
As someone under 21, you can lose your driver’s license if you receive a “drinking ticket”. This offense is also called minor in possession, illegal consumption, under aged drinking and alcohol by a minor, among other names.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

In the state of Illinois, the offense of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) is a crime. Assuming this is a first offense and there are no aggravating factors, a conviction for DUI is a Class-A misdemeanor. 625 ILCS 5/11-501(c)(1) The maximum criminal punishment is a fine of up to $2,500 and/or up to 364 days in the county jail. 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-55
The DUI arrest and the conviction also have driver’s license consequences. For a first DUI offense, your driver’s license is subject to a suspension for six months if you submit to a blood or breath test that reveals a blood alcohol contents of .08 or higher. Should you decide not to provide a sample, your driver’s license is subject to a suspension for twelve months. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1
The suspension, known as a Statutory Summary Suspension (SSS), begins on the 46th day following the date on which the arresting officer serves you with a notice of SSS, which usually occurs at the time of the DUI arrest.625 ILCS 5/11-501.1(h) For the first thirty days that the suspension is in effect, you are prohibited from driving.

Thereafter, you are entitled to a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) so long as you were over 18 at the time of the offense, no serious injury resulted, your license was valid and you do not have a previous arrest for reckless homicide. 625 ILCS 5/6-206.1 At the end of the suspension period, your driving privileges may be restored, unless that are otherwise invalidate, such as by being convicted of the DUI for which you were arrested.

A DUI conviction results in a revocation of your driver’s license. For a first conviction the revocation is for one year. 625 ILCS 5/6-208 This does not mean that at the end of the year, you automatically get your license restored.

A revocation means that your current license is permanently invalid; in fact, the Secretary of State shreds it. You must, in order to restore full driving privileges, have a Secretary of State driver’s license hearing. However, after your SSS ends, you may apply for a Restricted Driving Permit (RDP) while the revocation is still in effect. This will allow you to drive for limited purposes, such as work, doctor appointments, Alcoholic Anonymous, school and day care.

A disposition of court supervision is a means to avoid the driver’s license revocation and also possible jail time. With a court supervision disposition, you plead guilty to the DUI offense but the judge withholds entering a judgment of conviction and puts you under a supervision order for a given period of time.

If you obey the supervision order, which typically includes paying fines, completing alcohol counseling, attending a Victim Impact Panel and staying out of trouble, the charges are dismissed. You are not therefore convicted of DUI. 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3.1; Kirwan v. Welch, 133 Ill. 2d 163, 139 Ill. Dec. 836, 549 N.E.2d 348 (1989)

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Most are aware that it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle in the state of Illinois while under the influence. If you are convicted of Driving Under the Influence (DUI), your driver’s license will be revoked. 625 ILCS 5/6-205(a)(2)

A revocation is a termination of your present driver’s license and driving privileges. 625 ILCS 5/1-176 In order to reacquire the legal authority to drive, you must apply for a new driver’s license through an administrative hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State.

You cannot make application for a new license immediately. For a first conviction, you must wait one year. For a second conviction that occurs less than 20 years after the first conviction, you are required to wait five years.

A third conviction, no matter how many years it occurs after the second one, entails a waiting period of ten years. 625 ILCS 5/6-208(b) A fourth conviction, including out-of-state convictions, makes you ineligible to apply for a license for your entire life, if any of the offenses occurred after January 1, 1999. 625 ILCS 5/6-208(b)4); 92 Illinois Administrative Code §1001.420(o)

A DUI that is dismissed, or reduced to reckless driving, or a successfully completed court supervision do not count as convictions. Therefore, every DUI arrest might not count against you for purpose of determining at what point you are eligible to apply for reinstatement.

Someone with one DUI conviction may apply for a Restricted Driving Permit (RDP) (also known as hardship license or work permit) after 30 days. Following a second or third conviction, there is a one-year waiting period before you can apply for an RDP. A person with four or more convictions cannot request an RDP.

You must also consider the effect of a statutory summary suspension (SSS). An SSS is entered at the time of a DUI arrest when you are asked to take a breath or blood test and either refuse to do so, or register above the legal limit of .08.

Forty six days after you are served with the summary suspension notice, your driver’s license will be suspended for between six months and three years, the length of which depends upon how many prior DUIS you have on your record and on whether you took or refused the test at the time of the most recent DUI.

A suspension is a temporary withdrawal of driving privileges for a specific period of time. 625 ILCS 5/1-204 When the period of time ends, the suspension terminates.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

The Illinois Driver’s Licensing law provides a number of behaviors that will result in a revocation of your driver’s license, in accordance with 625 ILCS 5/6-205. The revocations under this law are known as mandatory, which means that if it is proven that you engaged in the prohibited conduct, the Illinois Secretary of State, the administrative agency that administers the driver’s license laws, is required to revoke your license.

Mandatory revocations include a conviction for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol (DUI), commission of a felony in which a motor vehicle was used, leaving the scene of a crash involving death or personal injury (a three year revocation under 625 ILCS 5/6-208(b)), three convictions for reckless driving, a drag racing or street racing conviction, aggravated fleeing or eluding a police officer, two convictions for illegal transportation of alcohol if you are a youthful offender (under 21), any conviction for a traffic violation, the commission of which was the proximate cause of death of any person, reckless homicide and a second conviction for driving on a revoked license where the revocation was due to a previous reckless homicide conviction.

In 2003, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the reckless homicide law is unconstitutional. People v. Pomykala, 203 Ill. 2d 198, 784 N.E.2d 784, 271 Ill. Dec. 230 (2003) The Court held that because the reckless homicide law shifted the burden of proof to the defendant to prove he was not reckless, it violated due process by creating a mandatory presumption of reckless conduct.

In response to this ruling, the Illinois General Assembly, made up of the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives, amended to DUI law to provide for aggravated DUI. Under 625 ILCS 5/11-501(d)(1)(F), aggravated DUI occurs when a person, while violating the DUI law, is involved in a motor vehicle, snowmobile, ATV or watercraft crash that results in the death of another person, if the DUI was the proximate cause of the death.

Any aggravated DUI is a felony. For an aggravated DUI involving a single death, the offense is a Class-2 felony with no chance of probation absent “extraordinary circumstances”. Additional deaths elevate the minimum and maximum jail time. 625 ILCS 5/11-501(2)(G).

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Illinois law provides that a first time offense for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) is a Class-A misdemeanor if there are no additional circumstances 625 ILCS 5/11-501(c)(1) The maximum criminal penalty is a fine of up to $2,500 and/or up to 364 days in the county jail. § 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-55
However, in addition to any other penalties the judge may impose, if there are any passengers in the vehicle under the age of 16 years at the time of the offense, the judge is required to impose 6 months of county jail time, an additional mandatory minimum fine of $1,000, and 25 days of community service in a program benefiting children. Furthermore, if the blood alcohol content (BAC) at the time of the arrest is .16 or higher, the offender will be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 100 hours of community service and a mandatory minimum fine of $500.

DUI can also be a felony, known as “aggravated DUI” under a number of scenarios set forth in 625 ILCS 5/11-501(d). Among the aggravating factors are that the person, while under the influence: was driving a school bus with children under 18; caused death or serious injury from a crash; caused a crash in a school zone resulting in injuries; drove when his driver’s license was revoked, suspended or otherwise invalid; knowingly drove without insurance; and caused a crash while transporting a person under the age of 16 who suffers injuries.

Another felony enhancement arises if the defendant has “violated” the DUI laws on two prior occasions. Although court supervision is not a conviction, since the aggravated DUI law merely requires a prior “violation”, court supervision counts towards a felony enhancement. People v. Lambert, 249 Ill. App. 3d 726, 188 Ill. Dec. 909, 619 N.E.2d 534 (3 Dist. 1993) In addition, out-of-state DUI offenses are included.

An Illinois DUI offense also carries with it noncriminal penalties, known as “administrative sanctions”, which is another way of referring to driver’s license consequences. A DUI conviction results in a revocation of your license.

Because a conviction leads to a revocation, the Illinois Secretary of State will take your driver’s license out of circulation and also take away your right to drive in Illinois, notwithstanding the fact you may have a license issued by another state or country. You may only obtain restoration of a revoked driver’s license by having a driver’s license hearing with the Secretary of State.

A driver’s license suspension is imposed in connection with the DUI officer’s request that you provide a blood or breath sample to determine your BAC at the time of a DUI arrest. A refusal to test, or testing with a BAC of .08 or greater, results in a suspension of your driver’s license.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

In Illinois, if you are convicted of Driving Under the Influence (DUI), the Secretary of State is required by law to revoke your driver’s license. 625 ILCS 5/6-205(a)(2) And while not required to do so, the Secretary of State has the discretionary authority to revoke your driver’s license if you are convicted in another state of DUI at a time that you hold an Illinois driver’s license or are a resident of Illinois. 625 ILCS 5/6-205(a)(6)

Illinois sentencing laws provide for court supervision. 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3.1 A disposition of court supervision is not a considered to be a conviction even though you plead guilty to the offense. People v. Williams, 127 Ill. App. 3d 231, 468 N.E.2d 807, 82 Ill. Dec. 260 (3d. Dist. 1984) Court supervision avoids a driver’s license revocation.

Supervision is an option only if you have never been convicted of DUI and never been assigned DUI court supervision on a previous occasion. 730 ILCS 5/5-6-1 If you are convicted of a DUI that arose in another state, your driver’s license will be revoked even though had you received the DUI in Illinois, you would have been eligible for supervision. Schultz v. Edgar, 170 Ill.App.3d 36, 37, 120 Ill.Dec. 378, 523 N.E.2d 1289, 1290 (1988),
Keep in mind that there is a difference between a suspension and a revocation. If you are arrested for DUI in Illinois, you will be asked to take a breath test. If you refuse, your driver’s license will be suspended for either one or three years. The same applies if you refuse a breath test in another state.

The suspension will be for one year if you are considered a first offender, meaning that you have not had a DUI arrest in the prior 5 years. The suspension will run for 3 years if your last arrest was less than 5 years before the new arrest. 625 ILCS 5/6-208

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Sandra Vasquez of Aurora Illinois was operating a motor vehicle that was involved in a fatal crash that killed 5 teenagers in 2007. It was determined that Vasquez was driving under the influence (DUI).

The DUI law lists a number of aggravating factors (“aggravating” meaning facts exist that make the offense more serious than the typical case). One of those factors in aggravation is that the DUI cause a fatality. 625 ILCS 5/11-501(d)(2)(G)

Most cases of aggravated DUI are a Class-2 felony. As such, the term of incarceration is 3-7 years but probation (no jail) is an option. § 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-35. However, when the DUI involves a fatality, it is a felony with an extended term (extra prison time) of 3-14 years if there is a single death and 6-28 years for multiple deaths, as in Vasquez’s case.

Furthermore, a fatality DUI offense is not subject to probation unless the court finds that “extraordinary circumstances” exist. Vasquez claimed extraordinary circumstances existed because she had no prior record and she worked with dementia patients.

In a criminal case, the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution gives the defendant (the accused) the right to a trial by jury. However, while the jury decides guilt or innocence, in Illinois, the judge determines the sentence.

The judge for Vasquez determined that extraordinary circumstances did not exist and sentenced her to 15 years in prison. Vasquez, as is her right, appealed.

The Illinois court system begins with numerous trial courts in all 102 counties of the state. Everybody has an automatic right to appeal an unfavorable ruling to one of the five appellate courts located in Chicago, Springfield, Mt. Vernon, Elgin and Ottawa.

An appeal is assigned to one of the five appellate courts depending upon which trial judge heard the case. At times, this results in conflicts among the appellate courts, all of which issue written decisions.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

The state of Illinois has a law that makes it illegal to drive under the influence (“DUI”). 625 ILCS 5/11-501. According to the Illinois Secretary of State, his office received reports of 49,100 DUI arrests in Illinois for the year 2010.

In the early days of the DUI laws, the only prohibition was driving under the influence of alcohol. The state was required to prove that alcohol affected your ability to drive safely.

In fact, the short cut name for DUI was “drunk driving” and the legal name was “driving while intoxicated”. This wording led the general public, including jurors, to infer that in order to be guilty of DUI, you had to be “stumbling drunk”.

The legal limit was a very high .15 blood alcohol content, which was later lowered to .10 and finally, in July 1997, it was reduced to the current .08. 625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1) The name was changed to “driving under the influence”.

The police had always had the right to ask you to take a blood or breath test. However, there was no driver’s license penalty for refusing, and the jury was not told that you had refused.

There were no established standards for performing standardized field sobriety tests (SFTS), including the officer waving the pen back and forth, walking a straight line and the one-legged stand, or for explaining the results to the jury.

All of that has changed under today’s DUI laws. If you take a test and you register .08 or higher, your driver’s license is subject to a suspension. If you do not take a test, the suspension is twice as long and the state is allowed to argue to the jury that you did not take the test because you knew you were drunk. The suspension applies even if the DUI is thrown out.

There are also products other than alcohol that can lead to a DUI arrest. It is illegal to drive under the influence of a drug or combination of drugs other than alcohol (alcohol itself is a drug). Thus, it’s DUI to drive high on cocaine for instance.

Continue reading →

Contact Information

We have provided effective advice and assistance to thousands of clients facing driver's license suspensions and revocations, both in Illinois and out-of-state, including students from area colleges and universities.

1100 S 5th St
Springfield, IL 62703
Phone: 217.525.0520 Fax: 217.525.0901

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2014 – 2025, Harvatin Law Offices P.C.
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design