(625 ILCS 5/4-301) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 4-301)

Sec. 4-301. State policy. The General Assembly finds that abandoned and derelict vehicles: constitute a safety hazard and a public nuisance; are detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the general public by harboring disease, providing breeding places for vermin, inviting plundering, creating fire hazards, and presenting physical dangers to children and others; produce scenic blights which degrade the environment and adversely affect land values and the proper maintenance and continuing development of the State of Illinois and all of its subdivisions; represent a resource out of place and an energy loss to the Illinois economy, and require state and local governmental attention, in conjunction with any federal governmental attention, in order to assure the expeditious removal and recycling of these abandoned and derelict vehicles.

The General Assembly declares therefore, that it is the policy of the State of Illinois, to:

1. Prohibit the abandonment of vehicles and the retention of derelicts, and to enforce such prohibition by law while reminding vehicle owners of their own individual responsibility to dispose of such vehicles;

2. Encourage the development of procedures and techniques to facilitate the expeditious removal of abandoned and derelict vehicles from public or private premises;

3. Encourage the State of Illinois and all of its political subdivisions, in cooperation with the federal government and the private sector of our State, and in cooperation with other states of the United States, to recover and recycle the resource represented by abandoned and derelict vehicles to the fullest extent practicable.

(Source: P.A. 81-653.)