Pass, sign and drive

Joliet Herald-News, Joliet, Ill.: Proposed legislation to eliminate the practice of surrendering a physical driver’s license for a minor traffic offense makes such obvious common sense, it’s hard to believe it’s taken this long to rectify.

Senate Bill 2583 unanimously passed the Illinois Senate and has moved on to the House.

This is 2014. There has never been a time when government has more access to personal information — for good and bad. The only thing collecting plastic cards does is inconvenience the driver and create unnecessary work for government employees such as police officers and circuit clerks who have to transport and store them.

All of the vital data is stored electronically with the Illinois Secretary of State and available at the government’s fingertips. A simple license plate scan pops a wealth of information onto a patrol officer’s laptop screen.

Someone who plans to skip out on a speeding ticket won’t be hindered by the fact that his plastic card is sitting in a manila envelope in a circuit clerk’s office cabinet.