Stopped for DUI in Illinois

General information about Illinois law as of October 23, 2026. It is not legal advice for your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

What happens at a DUI stop?

Expect questions, roadside exercises, a handheld breath device, and after an arrest a chemical test of your breath, blood or urine. An arrest starts two cases: the criminal charge, and a suspension of your license that runs on its own clock. Our DUI and traffic page explains both.

Stay calm, keep your hands where the officer can see them, and follow the officer's directions. Do not argue at the roadside, even if you think the stop is wrong. Questions work as at any traffic stop: see pulled over in Illinois.

Do I have to do field sobriety tests in Illinois?

If the officer suspects cannabis, you have already agreed to them, and refusing or not completing them suspends your license for 12 months. On reasonable suspicion that you are driving while impaired by cannabis, Illinois law treats you as having consented to standardized field sobriety tests and to validated roadside chemical tests, and the officer must warn you first. Results showing cannabis impairment bring a 6-month suspension (625 ILCS 5/11-501.9), and a refusal can be used as evidence (625 ILCS 5/11-501.2).

When the officer suspects alcohol, the implied consent law lists chemical tests of blood, breath, other bodily substance or urine after an arrest, and roadside exercises such as walking a line are not on that list (625 ILCS 5/11-501.1). That does not take the chemical test off the table: if you are arrested, the chemical test rule below applies, whatever happened at the roadside. How the roadside part fits into your case is a question for a lawyer, on your facts.

If an injury or condition affects your balance, say so before you start.

Do I have to blow into the handheld breath tester?

The handheld device can lead to a chemical test, and refusing the chemical test suspends your license for at least 12 months. The officer uses the handheld result to decide whether to ask for a chemical test, and may ask for one anyway if there is probable cause to arrest (625 ILCS 5/11-501.5).

Under 21, the handheld device can be the test you have already agreed to, and refusing it brings a suspension. If you get a ticket for any Vehicle Code violation and the officer has probable cause to believe you drank any amount of alcohol, you are deemed to have consented to a test of your blood, breath, other bodily substance or urine, and that breath test can be given on a handheld device. Refusing it, or a result above 0.00, brings a suspension that starts on the 46th day after notice, with its length set by another section (6-208.2). You contest it at a Secretary of State hearing, and asking does not delay it (625 ILCS 5/11-501.8). If you are under 21, ask the officer which test you are being asked to take.

At 21 or older, and apart from the cannabis roadside tests above, the statute allows a driver to refuse the preliminary breath screening test before an arrest, but a refusal does not stop the officer from asking for the chemical test if there is probable cause to arrest, and refusing that test brings the suspension above. A driver can also use a screening result as evidence (11-501.5).

What is implied consent in Illinois?

By driving on Illinois roads, you are deemed to have consented to a chemical test of your blood, breath, other bodily substance or urine if you are arrested for DUI. The officer must first warn you what refusing costs and what a result of 0.08 or more costs (11-501.1). Refusing brings a suspension of at least 12 months, and the refusal can be used as evidence against you (below).

After a crash that killed or injured someone else, refusing is not an option: if the officer has probable cause to believe the driver was under the influence and caused the death or injury, the officer "shall request, and that person shall submit" to a chemical test of blood, breath, other bodily substance or urine (625 ILCS 5/11-501.2).

What does refusing the test cost, and what does failing cost?

For a first offender (625 ILCS 5/6-208.1):

• Refusing, or not completing, the test: 12 months.
• A result of 0.08 or more, or a cannabis or drug result covered by the statute: 6 months.

For anyone who is not a first offender, it is 3 years for refusing and 1 year for the result. A refusal after a crash that injured or killed someone else brings a revocation, and a CDL holder also loses commercial driving privileges (11-501.1). A refusal can also be used as evidence against you in the DUI case (11-501.2).

"First offender" has its own definition. It turns on any earlier DUI conviction or court supervision, and on any implied consent suspension in the 5 years before, with exceptions spelled out in 625 ILCS 5/11-500. Ask a lawyer whether you count.

When does the suspension start?

On the 46th day after you are given notice of it. The officer takes your Illinois license and, if it is valid, gives you a receipt that lets you drive until then (11-501.1).

You have 90 days after the notice to ask the court, in writing, for a hearing on the suspension. Asking does not pause it (625 ILCS 5/2-118.1; for a cannabis field test suspension, 625 ILCS 5/2-118.2). Write the notice date down today.

Can I fight the suspension?

You can ask for a hearing in the circuit court by written request within 90 days after the notice. The hearing is held within 30 days of the request, or of the first court date on the ticket. Asking does not pause the suspension, and the hearing covers only set questions, such as whether the officer had reasonable grounds and whether you were given the warnings (625 ILCS 5/2-118.1).

Can I drive during the suspension?

A first offender is sent notice that a monitoring device driving permit will be issued, unless one of the exceptions in the statute applies. With the permit you may drive for any purpose, but only vehicles fitted with an ignition interlock device, at your own expense, and never a commercial vehicle (625 ILCS 5/6-206.1).

Is a first DUI a felony in Illinois?

A DUI is a Class A misdemeanor unless one of the aggravating circumstances listed in the statute applies; those make it aggravated DUI, a felony, and a third violation is a Class 2 felony (11-501). For a Class A misdemeanor, a jail sentence is less than one year and the fine can be up to $2,500 (730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-55). Those are limits, not a forecast.

Is 0.08 the legal limit?

It is one of them. Driving, or being in actual physical control of a car (in the driver's seat with the keys, for example), with 0.08 or more is a DUI on its own, and so is doing it "under the influence of alcohol" at any level (625 ILCS 5/11-501). At 0.08 or more the law presumes you were under the influence. At 0.05 or less it presumes you were not, and between the two there is no presumption either way (11-501.2).

Can I get a DUI for cannabis if it is legal?

Yes. The adult-use cannabis law does not permit driving under the influence (410 ILCS 705/10-35), and a medical cannabis card is not a defense (11-501). It is a DUI to have, within 2 hours of driving, 5 nanograms or more of THC per milliliter of whole blood, or 10 per milliliter of other bodily substance (11-501 and 11-501.2). That rule does not reach a registered medical patient's lawful use unless the patient is impaired (11-501). Below those levels the result can still be weighed with other evidence (11-501.2).

A driver may not use cannabis in the passenger area, and the driver and passengers may carry it only in a secured, sealed or resealable, odor-proof, child-resistant container that is out of reach. A violation is a Class A misdemeanor (625 ILCS 5/11-502.15). One exception: cannabis bought from a licensed dispensary does not have to be out of reach if it stays in its sealed, odor-proof, child-resistant original packaging (410 ILCS 705/15-85).

What should I write down afterwards?

Do it the same night:

• Where and when you were stopped, and the reason given.
• What you ate and drank, how much, and when you finished.
• Each test you were asked to take, and what the officer said first.
• The weather, the road, your shoes, and any injury or condition.
• Who was with you or saw the stop, and the date on the suspension notice.

Keep the ticket, the notice and the license receipt together.

When to call Rick

Call Rick soon after a DUI arrest, well inside the 90 days. He handles DUI and traffic cases in Rockford, Loves Park and across Winnebago County. Bring your notes and papers. Call (815) 986-1569.