Curfew Laws

In January of 2008, new curfew laws were established in Illinois. Previously, there was an 11 o'clock curfew on weekdays and a 12 o'clock curfew on weekends. Today, the new law set both curfews one hour earlier. The law continues to say that it only applies to driving. Teenagers 17 and under can be out, but can't be driving. Also, if the teenager is driving home from a job, religious, or school event, he/she is exempt from the law. I think that the curfew should be pushed back to where is was originally. This law is unreasonable, inconvenient, and unnecessary. It puts teenagers in conflicting situations. For example, a student has a huge test the next day so he decides to go to a friend's house to study. It doesn't make sense to make the student go home as early as 945 (in order to get home in time for the state curfew) when they could have used the extra hour or so to study. Another situation is a group of high school kids are hanging out at a friends house. No drinking, drugs, or anything illegal is going on. Why should a high school senior, who is doing nothing wrong, be required to go home at 1045 on a Saturday night? One last example is a school team coming home from a game. When the opposing school is far away, an athlete can get back to school as late as 930. Why is it okay for the state to prohibit a high school team to go out for a piece of pizza together after a victory?

I will admit that this law does make sense in certain areas of the state. Research shows that between the hours of 10-11 on weekdays and 11-12 on weekends, the amount of accidents and shootings rises. So, naturally, the state made the curfew earlier to avoid these statistics. In places like the city, it makes sense to differentiate between driving and walking curfew because walking home is more common in the city. However, in the suburbs, people leave much farther away from each other, making it impossible to walk home. I think that the state should make curfew laws based on area, instead of one law for the whole state. Illinois varies from city, to suburb, and rural, so different areas should require different rules.