Municipal police departments in the northwest suburbs stopped 247,736 drivers in 2011 and ticketed 150,149, according to the analysis That compares to those same departments stopping 261,202 drivers in 2010 and ticketing 165,696. In all, stops were down 5 percent while drivers ticketed were down 9 percent.

The Tribune analysis found that, statewide, stops dropped 9 percent and the number of ticketed drivers dipped 13 percent. Police across the state are stopping fewer motorists and issuing far fewer tickets as the recession lingers. Compared to 2008, the number of ticketed drivers has dropped by nearly a fourth.

Also dropping statewide, albeit slightly, were the odds of getting a ticket. In 2010, more than 57 percent of all stopped drivers got a ticket. In 2011, that fell below 55 percent.

For now drivers in Illinois can breathe a sigh of relief that they are less likely this year to receive a traffic citation than they were last year. In the meantime it seems likely police will increase their efforts to identify drivers who are violating existing state traffic laws.

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So if you’re planning to drink and drive in Illinois (which we don’t think is a good idea any way) be certain you’re not planning a road trip through Rockford.

Every year, the agency surveys Illinois police departments to see how many DUI arrests they make and recognize the ones who are most productive. Of the nearly 700 police agencies surveyed, 76% responded. For the fifth consecutive year, the Rockford Police Department is first in the state in DUI arrests among municipal departments with 686 arrests for 2011. Rockford Investigator Rosemary Mathews was Illinois’ Top Cop with 181 of those arrests… Naperville came in second place with 622 arrests followed by Springfield, Rock Island then Decatur. “More DUI arrests in a municipality or county do not necessarily mean there are more drunk drivers in these locations than in other Illinois communities,” said Charlene Chapman, Executive Director of AAIM. “It does indicate a more active enforcement effort targeting DUI by those police departments compared to other departments.”

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Some have argued that driving with a dog on your lap (is it even possible to drive with a cat in your lap?) is no less dangerous than driving with a cell phone to your ear, or texting and driving. They consider driving with a ‘lapdog’ to be just another form of distracted driving. Their arguments failed to sway Illinois law makers however, who have themselves failed to fully endorse the measure.

Illinois State Senator Martin Sandoval, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he was himself a dog lover, but also said that driving with a dog in your lap was dangerous no matter how small or well behaved the dog was.

The final vote was 21-27 with two abstentions, showing that the issue is certainly important enough to garner almost enough votes, but not quite enough to pass. The dispute seemed to fall along party lines with Democrats more or less in favor and Republicans opposed. Opponents of the new law said the state had better things to worry about than ‘lap dogs’, citing current economic struggles and their supporters agreed.

It seems unlikely that the issue will go away, however, as some driving safety experts have been putting the spotlight on all forms of distracted driving. And yes, there have been numerous accidents attributed to drivers who had dogs or other pets loose in the car with them.

Given the abundance of evidence that distracted driving of any kind is leading to more traffic fatalities than even driving under the influence of alcohol, it seems like a good idea that drivers avoid any and all distractions when they get behind the wheel.

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This flies in the face of recent similar studies, including one from the American Automobile Association (Chicago) which indicates that having friends in the car with a teen driver elevates the risk of a distracted driving related crash.

As any parent with a teenager will tell you, their behavior is often difficult to decipher and downright confusing. They are erratic, unpredictable and hard to define, so why should we be surprised that two different studies tell us two completely things?

The fact is that teenagers are more prone to distractions in general. They are also more likely to use handheld devices. These two facts, coupled with the fact that many teens are just climbing behind the wheel of an automobile for the first time, are very likely (if not inevitably) going to increase the risks of distracted driving behavior for many teens (if not all.)

It is difficult, but not impossible to monitor your teen driver’s behavior without making them feel as if they are a leash. And even if you decide to use in-car mounted video surveillance, or GPS tracking technology, so what? You’re the parent, you are allowed to do whatever you think will help keep your teenage driver and their friends alive.

But you can start with some simpler fixes first and see how that works. The first thing you should do is analyze your own teen’s behavior and judge for yourself what their greatest risks are. Then sit down and discuss these risks with them. Set rules about what they can and cannot do while they are driving. Putting away the cell phone is a great start regardless of what the studies say. Also, limiting how many friends, or even which specific friends may ride with them, and where, is a close second.

The truth is, take whatever steps you think are necessary to keep your child safe. Just as you always have.

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