Traffic Laws & Courts

The newsletter of the ISBA’s Section on Traffic Laws & Courts

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2026 Articles

2026 Annual Meeting Photos July 2026 ISBA members and guests gathered at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis on June 11–12, 2026, for the Annual Meeting, which featured outstanding CLE programming, networking, and business meetings. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the Annual Meeting a success!
AI and Law: An Opportunity to Improve Legal Practice By Damien Riehl July 2026 Recent exponential leaps in advanced large language models have presented both opportunities and challenges that have the capacity to reshape the legal landscape.
Become an Illinois Bar Foundation Champion By Jessica R. Durkin January 2026 At least twice a year at ISBA Annual and Midyear Meetings, we are pitched by colleagues and the Illinois Bar Foundation to become a “Champion.” But what is a Champion really, and what’s in it for us?
Case Review: People v. Greer, 2025 IL App (1st) 232302-U By David Franks May 2026 (1) Defendant’s convictions for aggravated driving under the influence based on actual impairment were reversed where there was no evidence showing that defendant’s use of cannabis proximately caused the fatal crash. (2) There was no appellate jurisdiction to review the merits of defendant’s arguments with respect to two unsentenced, and therefore nonfinal, convictions for aggravated driving under the influence based on defendant’s THC concentration, requiring a remand for sentence on those counts. (3) Defendant’s conviction for reckless homicide was affirmed where evidence that defendant was traveling more than 90 miles-per-hour, combined with other circumstances, rationally supported the jury’s finding that his conduct was reckless, and where defendant’s remaining allegations of error either did not show an abuse of discretion or amount to clear and obvious error under the plain-error doctrine.
Case Summary: People v. Crump II, 2026 IL App (3d) 250400-U and Reasonable or Unreasonable Grounds By Hon. Tamika R. Walker October 2026 The Third District Appellate Court, in a recent decision, reversed the trial court's finding after utilizing a manifest weight of the evidence standard when analyzing the trial court’s decision to rescind the statutory summary suspension.
Case Summary: People v. Erdene, 2025 IL App (1st) 231789-U By Hon. Tamika R. Walker April 2026 When a defendant requests counsel, statements made after the request for counsel may be deemed inadmissible. 
Case Summary: People v. Useni By James Stern January 2026 The People v. Useni decision explores why base allegations are not sufficient to deny bail. 
Criminal Conduct When Intoxicated By Ted Hammel & Kristen Messamore January 2026 A person who is intoxicated (a/k/a voluntarily wasted) is usually responsible for their criminal conduct, but…the Illinois Supreme Court held in 2023 that evidence of voluntary intoxication may be used to attack a state's claim that defendant had requisite specific intent to commit charged offense. 
Defendant’s Disappearing Act Yields No Evidentiary Magic By Adam M. Miller January 2026 A case summary of People v. Talley, 2025 IL App (4th) 250432-U, and practical implications for the timeline of evidence preservation and discovery requests. 
Discovery in Misdemeanor Cases: Why Schmidt Isn’t Enough and the “Legal Begging” for More! By Ted Hammel April 2026 It would be a most judicious amendment to our legal code to formally codify discovery in all misdemeanor cases, ensuring a new transparent and predictable legal process for receiving such information, rather than relying on the present system of selective benevolence and arduous supplication. 
2 comments (Most recent May 12, 2026)
Failure of the Trial Court to Fully Comply With Supreme Court Rule 431 Admonishments Results in New Trial By Alan Downen April 2026 The recent Fourth District case, People v. Dye, serves as a reminder to all that a failure to ensure the jurors are fully admonished, as required by SCR 431, can jeopardize their case: the defense by allowing a juror to be selected that may not give the defendant the benefit of his rights and the prosecution by losing a conviction. 
Generic Speeding and Erosion of the “Mere Accident” Rule By Anthony Cameron April 2026 This article discusses the continuing validity of the mere accident rule as it applies to moving violation prosecutions.
Highlights From the ISBA 2026 Solo & Small Firm Conference in Peoria October 2026 The Illinois State Bar Association hosted its 2026 Solo & Small Firm Conference: From Log Cabin to Legacy: Growing and Sustaining a Solo or Small Firm in Illinois, September 17–18 at the Peoria Marriott Pere Marquette, 501 Main Street. The conference provided attendees with practical best practices, valuable insights, and strategies to support every stage of their professional journey—from launching a practice to building and sustaining a successful firm.
How to Successfully Manage a Remote Law Practice By Marie Sarantakis April 2026 Tips for attorneys who want to run a profitable practice that operates as a virtual, remote office. 
Illinois Cannabis Transportation Law: Concerns and Possible Solutions By Anthony B. Cameron & Evan Bruno January 2026 While Illinois has made itself the sole United States jurisdiction to criminalize the odor of cannabis, the odor-proof container rule arguably does nothing to eliminate public harm, highlighting the necessity for amendment. 
Illinois Enacts Intelligent Speed Assistance Program for Repeat and Egregious Speeding Offenders By Larry A. Davis October 2026 Public Act 104-0507 represents a significant development in Illinois traffic law. Effective January 1, 2028, repeat aggravated-speeding convictions can result not simply in fines, misdemeanor consequences, and conventional driver's license sanctions, but in placement into a technologically monitored driving program capable of controlling the speed of the vehicle itself.
Late Discovery and the Exclusion of Breath-Test Evidence: People v. Parentice By Larry A. Davis July 2026 The Fourth District Appellate Court recently addressed the issue of when does the State's delay in producing breath-testing records justify the exclusion of the breath-test result itself? The practical lesson of Parentice is significant. A discovery violation does not automatically create a permanent evidentiary bar.
Officer, Slow Down, I Don’t Know What You Said!: Reading the Warning to Motorists “Too Fast” Could Provide for a Quick Recission By Terrence Wallace October 2026 The practitioner should carefully review the recordings of the “warnings.” Based upon Moses, and as always, the “Warning to Motorists” still should be read to the defendant. Where the “warnings” are read too fast and are “objectively unintelligible,” the “warnings” may be proper providing the defendant was handed a copy with an opportunity to read it before the refusal or submission to the testing.
People v. Bautista Flores: Another Reminder That HGN Evidence Demands Strict Compliance and the Importance of Timely Trial Objections By Larry A. Davis July 2026 Although People v. Bautista Flores is a Rule 23(e)(1) order and therefore does not constitute binding precedent, the decision provides another example of useful application of the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in McKown and reinforces the continuing obligation of trial courts to require a proper evidentiary foundation before HGN testimony is admitted.
People v. Lee: Never Stipulate! Fourth District Affirms Dismissal of Postconviction Petition at Second Stage Despite Undisputed Laboratory Problems By Jason M. Kunowski October 2026 People v. Lee warns practitioners that stipulating to forensic testing and missing post-conviction deadlines can foreclose later challenges, even when serious laboratory problems emerge.
The Three Types of Driving Abstracts and What They Show and Do Not Show By Ted Harvatin July 2026 The Illinois Secretary of State is charged with keeping records of a driver’s traffic ticket and driving history. Some of these are made public, some are kept internally, and even more information is contained in a third "abstract." This article explains all three types of abstracts.
A Ton of Bricks Wasn’t Enough: Illinois Drops an Entire Brick Factory on Your Local Public Defenders: Court-Appointed Attorneys in Summary Suspension Proceedings—Is It a Right? By Ted P. Hammel & Terrence Wallace October 2026 House Bill 4217 was signed by the governor on June 26, 2026. Public defenders, beginning January 1, 2027, may now assist their “DUI” clients in the attempt of rescinding their statutory summary suspension of their license. The question becomes why simple alternatives to HB 4217 were apparently disregarded or ignored?
Under the Influence of Alcohol/Drugs or Impairment From Mental Health Issues? By Terrence Wallace May 2026 This article discusses the decision in People v. Garcia where the Second District Appellate Court was asked whether mental health defenses applied in strict liability cases such as DUI, and whether the failure to present that defense constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel.