Today I was helping a young man deal with a couple of traffic tickets. He had been issued a speeding ticket recently, and he didn't have proof of insurance in the car, so he got a ticket for that, too.
No problem. He deserved both.
The tickets were marked Must Appear, but the officer had told him that he could take proof of insurance and his insurance ticket would be dismissed.
When I called the courthouse last week for information, a court clerk explained that he, the driver, could take proof of insurance to a window on the first floor. Of course, it would have to show that the insurance was in effect at the time of the traffic stop. When we got to the courthouse today, it turned out that the faxed copy of the insurance card from his agent was not acceptable as proof of insurance.
He needed to have 1) the actual insurance card; 2) the policy; or 3) a letter from the insurance agent on insurance agency letterhead.
Here's the exact information: www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/circuitclerk/Pages/NoInsuranceTickets.aspx
So today's trip was wasted.
The court clerk was very helpful on the phone last week and explained that, after the insurance ticket was dismissed, then the speeding ticket could be changed to "Payment", avoiding a court appearance and saving the new level of minimum court costs - $125.
I believed that it would be important for this driver to go to Traffic School and to obtain Supervision as part of the judgement for his Guilty plea, because then (hopefully) his speeding ticket would not be reported to the DMV at the Illinois Secretary of State's office. Ticket information is used by insurance companies to calculate risk and premium rates.
Here are his choices:
Pay $120 and be done with it. Conviction goes on the driver's license record; or
Pay $155 and attend the four-hour Traffic School class (includes Supervision); or
Pay $170 and take the four-hour Traffic School class online (includes Supervision).
If you know you're guilty, or you believe you'd lose in court if you fought a ticket, then you want to pay at the window and avoid getting soaked for an extra $125 for saying Hello to the judge.
If you're a gambler or believe you are not guilty or that you can beat the charge in court, then you can roll the dice and go for a win. If you are successful in court, you'll be found not guilty and pay no fine and no court costs. If you lose, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, fork over an extra $125 to keep the lights on in the courtroom and hope the judge will then grant Supervision.
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2 comments:
Just another way of the local government stealing money from the tax payers and perpetuating teaching jobs.
@Maverick, Exactly, it is enslavement thru taxation(fines). Laws are many and difficult to understand, many laws not morally wrong but rather technicalities that are broken. The education system seriously lacks information into educating the future adult population into understanding rights, while lawyers and courts make doctor salaries when a 2-year education of law could solve the majority of all the legal cases. Slavery used to be about race, now it is also about using the legal system to enrich their masters(judges/lawyers/politicians) from the uneducated and easily vulnerable.
To have the best outcome is probably left to a jury trial, but then you are pissing off all the jury members as they are getting paid pennies compared to what the courts and lawyers normally make, even pennies compared to the jobs they are left not able to work.
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