A new idea for JDPs
The Illinois Legislature didn't ask me to fix their laws, but there's one I could fix in about a millisecond given the chance.
Illinois gives Judical Driving Permits to people who have not had DUIs within five years. With a JDP a driver may drive back and forth to work, back and forth to DUI counseling and for medical reasons. In order to get a JDP the driver must petition the court, get a letter from their employer and an Alcohol Evaluation. JDPs don't work for the first 30 days of the suspension.
If you read the law you will notice. You can't get groceries with your JDP, you can't get gas for your car, can't go to court, can't go to church. You must drive at the exact times of your JDP, and in the exact routes specified. If you are driving outside of the scope of your JDP you may be arrested for driving while license suspended. In some cases an officer must determine whether you are driving within the parameters of the JDP. That's asking a lot of a police officer. JDPs only last a matter of months.
Here's my fix:
Why don't we not suspend DUI offenders driving privileges during the day time hours? Shockingly simple, eh? Instead of this suspension or that suspension, we just say that a driver can't drive between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. (Coincidentally the hours between which 95% of the DUIs occur).
No one would have to get a judicial driving permit, except for night time hours. We could reserve the right to revoke after considering the case after its disposition. (afterwhich we could assess whether the driver has sucessfully completed counseling, violated the law in the meantime, etc.)
I know, it's like the guys on the Guiness Beer Commercial say, "BRILLIANT"
Ray Flavin
