After he racked up three speeding tickets in a year’s time, John Stokes’ license was automatically suspended for two months.
But in Illinois, that wasn’t enough to keep him off the road. When Stokes steered his rig loaded with steel rods onto the train tracks near Bourbonnais, setting into motion Monday’s fatal train wreck, he was driving legally on a probationary license.
He got it by attending a four-hour driver safety course administered by the National Safety Council. And so he stayed on the road, even though he had been ticketed for at least nine moving violations since 1991.
Following the Amtrak disaster, legislators and other state officials are beginning to review the probationary license program, amid calls to end it altogether.
“We want the safest possible drivers,” said Dave Druker (the name as published has been corrected in this text), a spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office oversees the issuance of drivers’ licenses. “We don’t want Illinois to have the reputation that it’s permissive in terms of people driving on suspended licenses.”
But compared with other states, Illinois does appear more lenient.
Indiana, for example, allows suspended drivers to petition the court only for what’s called a “hardship” license, permitting them to drive only to and from work or school, or to the doctor’s office if they have a medical condition.
Florida allows commercial truck drivers whose licenses have been suspended to apply only for a hardship license, and that allows them only to drive a passenger car.
In most cases, California allows restrictive probationary driving only after the suspended driver has been off the road for one to three months.
And in New Jersey, there is no mercy for suspended drivers. Suspension means suspension, and not even hardship licenses are available.
Wisconsin’s regulations are similar to Illinois’. Only if truck drivers receive more than one suspension after accumulating a series of violations will they be barred from driving their rigs.
In Illinois, state lawmakers have concentrated in recent years on lowering the blood-alcohol limit for drivers and toughening penalties for serious road offenses. Few have ever even considered the probationary license system, which was put into place in 1959.
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But following the Amtrak crash, “I certainly think we need to look at it,” said Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville), who chairs the House Transportation Committee.
“Maybe we should either prohibit (probationary licenses) or make them tougher to get.”
Others, including Sen. Carl Hawkinson (R-Galesburg), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggest that eliminating the licenses would make it harder for professional drivers and others who need cars for their jobs to stay employed.
The theory behind probationary permits, according to Hawkinson, is that “in the absence of a restricted driving permit, you could lose your job.” And that, he said, could hurt innocent members of the offender’s family.
Sen. George Shadid, the Democrat from Downstate Edwards who is minority spokesman on the Senate Transportation Committee, said maintaining those driving privileges is even more crucial in rural areas.
“Downstate, we don’t have the public transportation that they have 24 hours a day,” he said.
In Illinois, both private and commercial drivers who get three tickets in a 12-month period automatically have their licenses suspended.
But most have three ways to keep driving.
Motorists whose licenses are suspended for the first time for minor violations can obtain a probationary permit by paying a fee and attending safety school.
If the violations are more serious, the driver can petition the court for an occupational permit, allowing the use of vehicles only for work.
Third, in cases where the offenses are yet more serious, the driver may be permitted by a judge to apply for a hardship license. In those cases, he may drive only to and from work, school or a doctor’s office.
Of the 21,956 suspensions of Illinois car and truck drivers last year, 4,153 people were able to continue driving on probationary licenses.
The length of the probationary license is determined by the severity of the offenses and is based on a point system.
Drivers whose offenses total up to 44 points are eligible for two-month probationary licenses. After completing probation safely, the driver’s regular license is returned.
If the point total ranges between 45 and 74, the driver receives a three-month probationary license after completing the safety course.
Anyone with more than 74 points in a year and three tickets is disqualified from obtaining a probationary license.
Yet another problem with the system is that many minor traffic violations never are reported to the state, if local fines are paid and traffic school is completed.
For example, White aides on Thursday said they were unaware of as many as five additional driving infractions that Stokes apparently accumulated in recent years in Cook, Will and Kankakee Counties.