Starting July 1, 2026, Illinois will stop requiring behind-the-wheel driving tests for most drivers ages 79 to 86, raising the automatic road-test age to 87. Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias rolled out the change under the Road Safety & Fairness Act, pitching it as a move toward judging drivers on how they perform, not how many birthdays they have had.
Official change and timeline
Under the Road Safety & Fairness Act, the state raises the mandatory road-test age from 79 to 87 and drops age-triggered behind-the-wheel exams for drivers 79 through 86, while keeping in-person renewals and vision screenings for those groups. "The Road Safety & Fairness Act is about replacing outdated assumptions with facts," Giannoulias said when announcing the change. The Secretary of State's office says the law takes effect July 1, 2026, and that notices have already gone out to affected license holders, according to the Illinois Secretary of State.
How renewals will work
Once the law kicks in, drivers ages 79 or 80 will renew every four years in person with a vision screening and no driving test. Drivers 81 through 86 will renew in person every two years with a vision screening and no behind-the-wheel exam. Drivers 87 and older will still have annual in-person renewals that include both a vision test and a behind-the-wheel driving test. The state estimates about 350,000 Illinois drivers fall into the 79 to 86 bracket, and roughly 55,000 of them took a driving test last year, as reported by CBS Chicago.
Supporters point to the data
Supporters, including AARP Illinois and Giannoulias, say the change scraps an age-based policy they argue unfairly targeted seniors while still keeping meaningful safety checks in place. AARP has called the law a step toward ending discriminatory practices against older drivers. Backers point to state crash figures that seem to support that case: drivers 75 and older had lower crash rates per licensed driver than younger age groups, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Critics and safety experts weigh in
Not everyone is sold on scrapping the road-test requirement for drivers in their late 70s and early 80s. Some safety experts argue an on-road exam can flag problems with reaction time, judgment, or physical ability that vision checks and paperwork alone might not catch.
The AAA's advocacy work and some research reviews have questioned how effective routine age-based retesting really is, with one summary concluding that retesting at a set age has not clearly reduced crashes, as reported by HowStuffWorks. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety notes the evidence is mixed: older drivers have higher fatal crash rates per mile driven but also tend to drive less and often limit when and where they are on the road, which leaves policymakers juggling safety concerns with seniors' independence, according to IIHS.
What drivers and families should know
Drivers whose renewals fall into the 79 to 86 range should expect a notice telling them when to show up in person and be ready for a vision screening at their appointment. The Secretary of State's office says more details and local appointment information are available on its website.
The law also creates a confidential way for immediate family members to flag worries about a loved one's medical or cognitive fitness to drive. Those reports go to the Secretary of State for review instead of triggering an automatic license revocation, according to the Illinois Secretary of State.
