Towns Let DUI Drivers Pay to Keep Their Licenses

Robert Daly was an unlikely candidate to keep his driver's license.

 
The Downers Grove man was charged with drunken driving in the west suburb in 2011 under a state law that mandated a license loss for anyone arrested on DUI charges. And it was Daly's second such arrest.
 
But he got arrested in the right town. And he was willing to pay.
 
Daly agreed to pay nearly $3,900 in fines and fees. The result: Despite testing at 75 percent above the legal limit for his second arrest, he didn't miss a day behind the wheel.
 
The case highlights a cottage industry of DUI deal-making that a Tribune investigation found has emerged in DuPage County. Suburbs have their own prosecutors who bargain away the license loss in deals that impose hefty fines.
 
"It just seems to be a runaway system," said Cathy Stanley, court watch director of the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists.
 
The Tribune investigation builds upon another, published last month, that found that prosecutors for suburbs in DuPage County were the most prolific at working out plea deals so drivers don't lose their licenses.
 
The latest Tribune analysis focuses on the cash that permeates the system and, according to critics, greases the deals cut by towns.
 
The data show that towns charge far more in fines and fees for DUI than county prosecutors do, and that suburbs charge more in particular to those who receive the special arrangement.