Up until recently, judges in minor traffic cases were told only about an offender's driving record from Cook County, and not their record from a national database. According to a Chicago Tribune report, this resulted in traffic offenders being granted supervision in cases where they should have received a conviction.
This change is important because currently the law allows an offender to receive two supervisions in one year, and after that they must receive a conviction. If you receive multiple convictions, your license may be suspended, something you would not receive with a finding of court supervision.
While your driving record from other states may seem irrelevant to your record in Illinois, it is important to know it does in fact impact your Illinois record. What happens in another state does not stay in that state.
While this new rule does not change much for offenders in DUI and felony cases because the prosecution did have access to the records from other states in those cases before, it will change the face of minor traffic cases.
So if you receive a traffic ticket, it is important to remember it can have a serious impact on your driving privileges. Here at The Toney Firm we take all traffic cases seriously. We understand the sensitivity of a minor traffic ticket and handle it with the same level of importance as a DUI or felony case.