Are You Allowed to Sleep in Your Own Car in Illinois? Yes and No

With spring break coming up or going on now, many drivers will be taking to the road to get to their vacation destination. However, to save some money some might sleep in their car, but can you legally do that?

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All 50 states have sleeping-in-car laws, but you CAN LEGALLY sleep in your car at rest stops in Illinois. According to smartfinancial.com there are 30 rest stops and 11 welcome centers in the state where people can get some sleep if they need a few hours off the road. You can see a full map of all the rest locations below.

Exceptions to the Law

There is a time limit on how long you can sleep in your car/truck (three hours), but officers will not enforce that because they want everyone to reach their destination safely. There are expectations to that rule, however.

In bigger cities, such as Chicago, which have many sticker parking laws, you will want to make sure you read all of the parking signs before you sleep. In Illinois, it's illegal to sleep in your car while intoxicated.

I am not a long-distance driver, I can barely make it to St. Louis and back sometimes, let alone drive to Chicago. Rest stops are all major interstates that have come in handy for me. Not that I slept, but it's been a good reason to get out of the car and stretch for a few minutes before getting back on the road.