Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed legislation aimed at enhancing truck safety in the state by making truck routing and restrictions more accessible to the commercial trucking industry.

The new law also provides a program to educate truck drivers about the differences between truck and car GPS devices.

The law, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2012, requires local jurisdictions to provide the most up-to-date truck route information to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which in turn will post this information online.

A state task force, made up of government and industry representatives, made three key recommendations that are part of the legislation:

Merge together databases containing key truck routing data such as overpasses and legal restrictions;

Require local jurisdictions to report their designated truck networks and preferred routes via a simplified reporting process; and