If my Illinois Driver’s License was suspended due to a incidence of operating a motor vehicle without insurance, may I still use that license to prove my identity and age ala when served alcohol?
Thank You.
I know in Texas you can. Here is a site from the Illiinois DMV. They have a phone number listed for questions, but your situation is not listed on their web page.
You could always get a state ID card if you wanted to play it safe.
It still proves your identity and age. They won’t know it’s suspended unless they check, and I’m thinking a bar or somebody where you’re cashing a check is not going to call the DMV to find out if the license is still valid.
Don’t offer to be the designated driver, though.
(In another thread, the OP asked me to come here and respond to this question.)
I’ve never had reason to look into this issue, and it’s not my area. Also, I can’t give advice on specific, real-world situations, for reasons that I (and other lawyers on this board) have explained on numerous occasions.
Interesting question. Let me make sure I understand it, though. (even if I can’t answer it.) What is your concern? Are you worried that a bouncer won’t let you in a bar? If that’s your fear, please explain how you expect the issue to come up. In other words, how would the bouncer know that the license was suspended?
Or are you worried that you would somehow be criminally prosecuted for drinking in a bar after getting in through use your suspended license (even though you are over 21)?
Odd… in BC, if your license is suspended, you have to surrender it, and you are issued with another one when the suspension is up. You have to use alternate ID during this time, i.e. passport, BCID, etc.
*No personal experience with the license losing, but we get a LOT of kids trying to get into the bar with the “Oh, my license was suspended and I don’t have a passport or any other picture ID”. Too bad for you!
Anyway, my questions are the same as randoms. There’s no way by looking at your license that the bouncer/bartender could tell it was suspended, right? And if you haven’t been asked to surrender your license, why would you not be able to use it as proof of age?
Indiana, they take your license when they arrest you and you have to get a State ID. If you want to prove that you are, indeed, you.
I’m not a lawyer, but as long as you didn’t try to operate a vehicle with it, I don’t see how you’d be committing a crime by using it for ID. YMMV
Make sure this is allowed. In Georgia, for example, you can’t have both.
In some states, your license must be physically surrendered if suspended, so you wouldn’t have that option.
This brings up an interesting question. If a suspended license is still valid for identity and age, an expired one would be, wouldn’t it? Yet years ago when I tried to prove who and how old I was with one, I got blank stares from people who said, “But it’s expired!”
“So what? It still works as an ID until I’m dead. You aren’t checking to see if I can legally drive, you just want to know who I am.”
“But it’s expired!” :rolleyes:
My Illinois DL was suspended for well over a year and I didn’t even know it. No way a bouncer or checkout clerk could happen upon your license status.
I am concerned that it is illegal to use my DL at all, for anything, once it is suspended. Are they just suspending my driving privelages, or the use of the license altogether? I’ve checked Ill. statutes on the web but it is still unclear. I am no researcher and legal research is particularly difficult. I called the local DMV and they referred to the Illinois Sec. of State’s office. After 23 minutes on hold I got frustrated and hung up. It was then suggested I come here.
Again, thank you.
Yikes! Thankfully you were never stopped by law enforcement (I’m assuming).
Correct. I am just concerned about criminal liability if I’m not supposed to use it at all while suspended. Heck, at my age (36) I rarely if ever get carded anyway.
Thank You.