Bill requires owners of vehicles to give report

SPRINGFIELD – State Rep. Jack Franks is working with the Harvard Police Department to strengthen Illinois’ hit-and-run laws.

The result of their collaboration, House Bill 5049, which requires the owner of a vehicle alleged to be involved in a hit-and-run accident to provide a written statement about who was driving at the time of the accident, passed out of a House committee this week.

“We must do all we can to help law enforcement bring the perpetrators of hit-and-run accidents to justice,” Franks said. “Officers should have every tool available to investigate hit-and-runs, and owners of vehicles involved in hit-and-run accidents have an obligation to the victims, to society and to themselves to disclose to authorities who was driving during an accident.”

Hit-and-run accidents claim the lives of hundreds of Illinoisans each year, and many of the perpetrators of the accidents never are discovered because existing Illinois law does not penalize the owner of a vehicle alleged to be involved in a hit-and-run accident for failure to report who was operating the vehicle at the time of the accident.

House Bill 5049 requires any owner of a vehicle alleged to be involved in a hit-and-run accident that results in injury or damage to another’s property to provide a written statement to authorities concerning what happened and who was driving. Failure to provide a statement would result in a three-month suspension of the owner’s driver’s license.

“We brought this legislation to the attention of state Representative Franks because we were hoping to get sanctions for hit-and-run vehicle owners, so they would be held liable for hit-and-run accidents,” said Sgt. Dale Langston of the Harvard Police Department. “Previously, there was no law that held drivers criminally liable for hit-and-runs. That is unacceptable.”

House Bill 5049 passed unanimously out of the Driver’s Education and Safety Committee on Wednesday and is headed to the House floor for consideration.

For information, call Franks’ office at 815-334-0063.