18 years in, graduated licensing has slashed teen driving offenses in Northern Illinois

Laura Hall was admitted to the bar in 2007 and assigned to La Salle County’s traffic division. At that time, there were lots of teenagers coming in to face the music after rookie mistakes while behind the wheel. Today, Hall is chief deputy for the La Salle County State’s Attorney’s Office and oversees the traffic division. She still deals with novice drivers and kids caught drag racing – teens haven’t changed that much – but the rough headcount of motorists 19 and younger who’ve been ticketed has diminished over time.

The Details

Traffic caseloads have fallen across northern Illinois since the state adopted graduated licensing in 2008. La Salle County went from a record 25,000 tickets in a single year to fewer than 10,000 within a decade, and Kendall County’s caseload fell by half in nine years. Hall credits the program for the drop in young offenders. DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan is less sure about safety: he said “it could be hard to say” whether it has cut serious crashes involving young