Reporting a bad driver in Illinois

Illinois bad driver reporting & safety guide

1. If it is happening now immediate danger

Emergency hotlines

• 911 — for a driver who is an active danger to other people right now. That is a police matter, and no app is a substitute for the call.
• No Illinois-specific line is listed here. We publish a patrol code only when a state police or DOT page carries it.

2. Reporting to Illinois law enforcement after the fact

Neither the hotlines above nor anything in this section is the licence-review route in section 3, and nothing filed on Jerk Alert reaches any of them.

Who takes the report in Illinois

• The non-emergency line of the Illinois municipal police department or county sheriff’s office with jurisdiction where it happened takes reports of dangerous driving that has already happened.
• Bring: the plate (full or partial) and state, the vehicle’s make, model and colour, the location, the date and time, the direction of travel, and what you saw.
• Expect a record rather than a ticket. An officer who did not witness the driving usually cannot cite for it, and what each agency acts on varies.

3. State DMV & licensing agency review

Quick facts

Can the report be anonymous?

No — state law requires you to identify yourself, and the Secretary may not accept or act on an anonymous report.

What information is required?

Your name, relationship, verified email, phone and street address; the driver's full legal name and address, plus either their date of birth or their Illinois licence number. There is no field for a plate.

Does a report automatically affect the licence?

No — every report is independently reviewed, and a report alone does not affect driving privileges.

What can happen after a report?

Further review if warranted, then a medical report, vision report, written exam or driving test as required, with written notice to the driver; failure to comply cancels driving privileges.

The route is recent: the Road Safety and Fairness Act (House Bill 1226, Public Act 104-0169, signed 15 August 2025) created it, in force since 1 July 2026, and the law turns on whether a person can drive safely rather than on age. It is limited to immediate family, and the Secretary of State's own advice is to try talking first: “Whenever possible, families should have an honest and compassionate conversation with their loved one about driving concerns. Reporting should be considered when serious safety issues cannot be resolved through discussion and may put the driver or others at risk.” The report is an online form linked from the Secretary of State's family-reporting page; DSD DA 16.3 remains the separate law-enforcement form.

Administrative fitness process

The details, for the people Illinois allows to file.

Agency

Illinois Secretary of State

Unit

Medical Review Unit

Form

Immediate Family Report of Medical Condition or Unsafe Driving Behavior (online submission, run on DocuSign; linked from the Secretary of State's family-reporting page)

What information do I need to report a driver?

• A report cannot be submitted anonymously: "State law requires you to identify yourself when submitting a report." The form asks for your first and last name, your relationship to the driver from a drop-down list, an email address it verifies, a phone number, and your full street address, city, state and ZIP code — all required.
• Your report should be based on your own observations or personal knowledge — be as specific as possible about the medical or vision condition or the driving behaviour you witnessed.
• Age alone is not a reason to submit a report.
• Identify the driver: their full legal name is required, and their date of birth OR their Illinois driver's licence number — the form asks you to indicate which one you are providing, so you need only one of the two. Their address and city are required as well. There is no field for a licence plate.
• The report is certified under penalties provided by law pursuant to Section 1-109 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure — that the statements are true and correct, and that anything given on information and belief is believed to be true.
• The grounds are broader than medicine alone: a medical condition, cognitive decline, vision impairment, or driving behaviour.
• The flow is a multi-screen online submission with a progress bar and a Finish Later button, so it can be completed in more than one sitting.

Will the driver find out who reported them?

You cannot be anonymous — the form says so twice — but it also states what happens to your name: “Your identity will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law”, and the office “will not disclose your identity except as required by law, such as pursuant to a court order or as part of an administrative hearing requested by the driver to contest any action taken on their driver's license.” The statute behind that is 625 ILCS 5/6-908: all information furnished to the Secretary or the Medical Review Board, the results of examinations made at their direction, and the Board's medical findings are confidential, for the sole use of the Board and the Secretary, not open to public inspection, and not disclosed to anyone except the person under review — and then only as far as needed to comply with a discovery request during the hearing process — unless a court of competent jurisdiction directs otherwise. So your report reaches the driver in two ways only: they contest the action and obtain it in discovery, or a court orders it. Family reports are not disclosed to insurance companies, though an insurer that later obtains the driving record may see a cancellation or restriction on it.

Illinois publishes no immunity for a family member who files. 625 ILCS 5/6-910 protects "[n]o member of the Board, medical practitioner, clinic, hospital, or mental institution, whether public or private" from criminal or civil action for opinions, findings, recommendations or information supplied to the Secretary or the Board — except for wilful and wanton misconduct. That list does not include a spouse, parent, grandparent, child or sibling, which is everyone the family-reporting route is open to, and the Road Safety and Fairness Act did not add them. Do not assume you are covered. What Illinois does publish is the other side of it: your report is certified under Section 1-109 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and knowingly false statements are subject to criminal penalties.

What can the Illinois Secretary of State do after a report?

1. Report submitted (online form, certified under Section 1-109)
2. Independent review by the Secretary of State's office
3. Further review if warranted — target 7 to 10 business days
4. Medical report, vision report, written exam or driving test, as the Medical Review Unit requires
5. Written notice to the driver; cancellation of privileges on failure to comply

• A report alone does not affect a person's driving privileges — each case is evaluated individually to determine whether additional review is necessary.
• The driver receives written notice explaining any required steps. Where medical or vision reports are required, the driver has 20 days to submit them.
• Where testing is required, the driver is sent a notice with three scheduled dates at the DMV facility where they last renewed their licence, followed by a 10-day grace period after the third date.
• A driver whose privileges are cancelled or restricted for a medical condition may seek review through the Illinois Medical Advisory Board and the administrative hearing procedures Illinois law provides for eligible cases.
• The Secretary of State's office provides reasonable accommodations for eligible individuals with disabilities or medical conditions, in accordance with applicable law.

Statutory authority: 625 ILCS 5/6-207 and 92 Ill. Admin. Code s.1030.16 — information submitted as 'good cause' for departmental action. Advanced age alone cannot be good cause, and positive driver identification must be established for the form to be valid. Public Act 104-0169 (the Road Safety and Fairness Act, in force 1 July 2026) added the immediate-family submission: in writing, in a form approved by the Secretary of State, carrying the submitter’s name; the Secretary may not accept or act on an anonymous report.

Illinois is one of 18 of 51 US jurisdictions where a witness unrelated to the driver has no confirmed way to report them to the licensing agency (the 51-location study). That gap is one reason Jerk Alert exists.