Paul Sassone

You probably saw on the news just before Memorial Day of the seemingly endless lines of cars waiting to take the state-required emissions tests.

Don’t blame the car owners. They weren’t procrastinating. They were victims of a series of goof-ups by Illinois officials.

The goof-ups began last October when the Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced (but not very loudly) that to save money because of the budget impasse, his office was suspending mailing notifications to drivers that car emissions tests were due.

This affected motorists who would have needed an emissions test in March, April and May. Normally, drivers can’t renew their license-plate stickers without passing an emissions test. The state still e-mailed notification to drivers that their license sticker was about to expire and — by the way — no renewal without an emissions test.

That’s how I found out my car was due for an emissions test.

So, early in March I drove to one of the 14 emission testing sites in the Chicago area. Nobody was there but me. Apparently the state’s non-notification was working like a Swiss watch.  I zipped through in minutes.

Contrast that with the huge lines and long waits at the testing facilities just recently.

That’s goof-up No. 2.

For reasons obvious to us — but apparently not to the secretary of state — not notifying was not working. Finally, though, the secretary of state reversed field and resumed mailing out emissions notices. The notices started being mailed April 6 to motorists whose license plate stickers expired June 1.

Not much time.

And while the state had resumed mailing emissions notices, it still didn’t send notices to drivers their license stickers were about to expire.

The result of all this back-and-for thing was panicky drivers in anaconda-like lines to have their cars’ emissions tested so they could renew their license-plate stickers.

By June 1, the problems should have resolved itself.

But, you never know.

This may be of some help if your emissions test and license-plate sticker are about to expire and need renewing.

Sprinkled throughout the state are 40 appointment-only emissions testing stations. To find out where they are, call (877) 927-7587.

And while the state is sticking to its policy of not notifying by mail when license plates expire, it will remind Illinoisans by email. To sign up for email notification, go to www.ilsos.gov/greenmail.

The 14 Chicago-area emissions testing facilities are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and closed on Sunday.

Happy motoring.