Illinois and Tennessee are both members of the Non-Resident Violator's Compact (NRVC) which means that Illinois should take action against your driver's license if you fail to pay or otherwise legally take care of your Tennessee ticket for speeding.

The Non-Resident Violator Compact requires member states to suspend the driver’s license of those who get traffic tickets for moving violations in other states and fail to pay them. When you failed to pay your fine then normally you would be found guilty of the offense and for failure to pay or failure to appear in court and so Tennessee can now come after you and collect for the fines you owe. If you do not pay the fine and take care of the ticket then the Tennessee courts should inform the Illinois Secretary of State (SOS) so that IL suspends your license until you deal with this out of state ticket.

Keep in mind also that if you continue to not pay Tennessee they can send you to collections with a company that will continue to request payment of the fines and possibly mark this on your credit report as non-payment.

The Illinois driver's manual states that an Illinois driver ticketed in another state that is a member of the Non-Resident Violator Compact has two options: 1) stay in the ticketing state and argue the case or pay the fine, or 2) sign a promise to comply with the traffic ticket. This promise allows the driver to continue the journey and handle the ticket by mail from home. This courtesy also is extended to non-residents from compact member states who are ticketed in Illinois. Failure to comply with the signed promise to appear will result in suspension by the home state motor vehicle department.

Your driving privileges are likely already suspended in Tennessee due to you not paying this TN speeding ticket that you received last year and your ability to drive in Illinois and any other state may be in jeopardy as well. If your licensing state of Illinois does suspends your driver's license as it should according to the NRVC, then it is not valid to drive in IL or any other state until you get it reinstated. You may want to contact the IL SOS to make sure that your Illinois driver's license has not yet been suspended.

Get car insurance rates for Illinois here with us.