Lawmakers are giving serious consideration to raising the speed limit on most Illinois highways. IPR’S Amanda Vinicky has more.
The fastest a car is supposed to go in Illinois is 65 miles an hour. Drivers could legally accelerate to 70 under a measure approved by the state Senate.
The plan's sponsored by Republican Senator Jim Oberweis, of Sugar Grove who's perhaps best known as the owner of Oberweis Dairy, which provides home milk delivery.
It was Oberweis' first piece of legislation as a senator, and colleagues like Quad Cities Democrat Mike Jacobs jokingly asked if his business spurred the legislation.
"I was just wondering, have you had the opportunity to do any time studies to see if this will increase the milk route to see if we can get to the customer sooner than later?"
To which Oberweis responded:
"We believe that will save some time, not only for our industry, but all industries in Illinois. And this could be used as a business friendly bill, something very unlikely to come out of the Senate."
The Senate easily passed the measure, 41 to 6. But officials with the state transportation department say it could lead to more serious traffic accidents, because they say drivers will go even faster.