What Illinois Drivers Over 79 Need to Know as Road Tests End July 1

Starting July 1, hundreds of thousands of older Illinois drivers will no longer have to pass a behind-the-wheel road test to keep their license. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias confirmed the change on June 17, ending a requirement that had made Illinois an outlier among all 50 states. If you or a parent is between 79 and 86 and has been dreading a renewal road test, that test is going away.

The change comes from the Road Safety and Fairness Act, signed into law in August 2025 and taking effect at the start of July. It raises the age at which a mandatory road test kicks in from 79 to 87, brings Illinois in line with the rest of the country, and adds a new tool that lets family members flag a relative whose driving has slipped, no matter how old that relative is.

Illinois Ends a Road Test No Other State Required

Until now, Illinois was the only state that forced drivers to retake the behind-the-wheel exam simply because of their age. Once a driver turned 79, the state required an in-person road test at each renewal, the same practical exam new teenage drivers take. No other state singled out older drivers that way, and supporters of the change argued the rule treated a large group of safe, experienced drivers as a problem to be retested rather than as the low-risk group the data shows them to be.

The American Association of Retired Persons backed the measure, and lawmakers pointed to crash data showing that drivers in their late 70s and early 80s are among the safest on the road, with lower rates of risky behavior such as speeding, tailgating, and distracted driving than younger age groups. The new law keeps the strongest safeguards for the oldest drivers while removing a test that, by the state’s own account, was not catching unsafe drivers any better than a vision check and a medical review would.

Illinois is home to one of the largest populations of older drivers in the country, and state figures have put the number of licensed drivers age 79 and above in the hundreds of thousands. That scale is part of why the testing rule drew so much attention. Each of those drivers had to take time off, arrange a ride to a facility, and sit a practical exam on a schedule no driver in any other state faced. Removing the test affects a very large group at once.

What Changes on July 1 by Age

The new rules sort older drivers into clear age bands, each with its own renewal schedule. Here is how it breaks down once the law takes effect:

• Ages 79 and 80: Renew every four years, in person, with a vision test. No road test required.
• Ages 81 to 86: Renew every two years, in person, with a vision test. No road test required.
• Ages 87 and older: Continue to renew every year, in person, with a vision test and a behind-the-wheel road test.

The headline change is that the road test now begins at 87 rather than 79, sparing the large group of drivers in their late 70s and 80s from an annual or near-annual practical exam. The vision test stays in place at every renewal for these age groups, because eyesight is one of the clearest, most measurable factors in safe driving. In-person renewal also remains, which means these drivers still visit a facility and have their photo and information updated rather than renewing entirely online.

One practical effect is fewer trips to a Secretary of State facility. A driver who is 81 previously faced more frequent renewals tied to the road-test requirement. Under the new schedule, that driver renews every two years until turning 87, which cuts down on both the paperwork and the anxiety that came with repeated testing.

The New Way Families Can Flag an Unsafe Driver

The law does more than relax testing. It also creates a formal path for immediate family members to report concerns about a relative’s driving to the state for review. Until this change, Illinois was one of only a handful of states that did not allow family members to raise a flag about a loved one who could no longer drive safely.

The reporting process is tied to safety, not age. A spouse, adult child, parent, or sibling who has watched a relative develop a cognitive or medical condition that affects driving can ask the state to review that person’s fitness to be behind the wheel. The review can apply to a driver of any age, which means a 60-year-old showing signs of dementia could be flagged the same as a 90-year-old. That closes a gap that frustrated many families who could see a problem developing but had no official way to act on it short of calling the police.

For families, this is the part of the law worth understanding now. If you have a relative whose driving worries you, the new procedure gives you a route that triggers a medical and vision review rather than an automatic loss of license. The goal is to catch genuine decline in any driver while sparing the broad group of safe older drivers from a blanket test.

Illinois joins the large majority of states that already rely on this kind of family or physician reporting rather than age-based road tests. In most of the country, concerns about a driver reach the licensing agency through a relative, a doctor, or a law enforcement officer, who can request that the state evaluate the person. By adopting the same approach, Illinois moves from testing everyone over a certain age to focusing its resources on the individual drivers who actually show warning signs.

Why the State Says the Old Rule Was Unfair

Giannoulias framed the change as a matter of fairness backed by evidence. The argument is that age alone is a poor predictor of whether someone can drive safely, and that a one-size-fits-all road test for everyone over 79 swept in tens of thousands of capable drivers while doing little to identify the small number who had actually become a risk. Vision screening and a medical review, paired with the new family reporting tool, target the conditions that actually impair driving, such as failing eyesight or cognitive decline, rather than a birthday.

The shift also carries real consequences for independence. For many older adults, losing a license means losing the ability to get to medical appointments, the grocery store, and family gatherings, especially outside cities with limited public transit. By keeping safe drivers on the road longer while still screening for the conditions that make driving dangerous, the state says it is protecting both safety and the freedom that comes with a license.

What To Do

If you are an Illinois driver in one of these age groups, or you help an older relative manage their license, here are the steps that apply once the law takes effect on July 1:

• Check which age band you fall into and note your new renewal interval, every four years for ages 79 and 80, and every two years for ages 81 to 86.
• Plan for an in-person visit at renewal. You will still need a vision test, so bring your glasses or contacts if you use them.
• If you are 87 or older, prepare for the annual road test as before, and schedule your appointment early to avoid wait times.
• Keep any medical documentation handy if you have a condition that affects driving, since a medical review can stand in for what the road test used to cover.
• If you are worried about a relative’s driving, learn how the new family reporting process works through the Secretary of State’s office rather than waiting for a crash or a police stop.
• Confirm your address and personal details are current with the Secretary of State so your renewal notice reaches you on time.

For most older drivers in Illinois, the practical result is simpler renewals and fewer tests, while the families who needed a way to raise concerns finally have one. The law tries to thread both needs at once, keeping safe drivers mobile while giving the state a sharper tool to catch the ones who are no longer safe.

Sources:

• https://www.ilsos.gov/news/2026/june-17-2026-giannoulias-ends-mandatory-road-tests-for-drivers-ages-79-86.html
• https://www.ilsos.gov/news/2025/august-18-2025-road-safety-and-fairness-act-signed-into-law.html
• https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/no-more-behind-the-wheel-tests-drivers-79-86-illinois/
• https://www.aarp.org/states/illinois/road-safety-fairness-act-signed-into-law/
• https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/news/illinois-loosens-drivers-license-requirements-for-older-adults/