Here's the story. I got pulled over on 2/5/2005 for running a red light in the city of Chicago. (It yellow when I got to the intersection and red by the time I got through. I admit I "ran" it, but I hold to the fact that the yellows are apparently shorter in the city.)

Anyway, the officer who wrote the ticket said to fill out the yellow copy (to apply for traffic school), pay the fine and pay the fee for the traffic school and mail everything in within 7 days from the issue date. I did all that and mailed everything in on 2/7/05 - first day possible.

Fast forward to now. The city still has not cashed my check and I still don't have my license back. I called the Traffic Court. Listened to thier automated system and found out that my complaint hasn't been processed and that a guilty plea will be entered on my behalf on 3/16/05 and a conviction will go the record.

I then waited and spoke to a clerk. According to the clerk, they have not processed my complaint (already knew that). I have until 3/14/05 to pay the fine and enter a plea. On 3/16/05 a conviction will go on my record. I asked, what about the fact that I mailed everything in as instructed by the officer? Her response, they cannot control what the officer says and they receive thousands of complaints each day and process them in the order in which they receive them and have unitl 3/16 to process mine.

Here's are my questions and some of them are simply due to the fact I've never received a moving violation before.

What would you recommend? Should I go downtown and pay the fine in person?

Will they actually process my complaint in time?

What does a conviction on my record mean? Higher insurance?

For all my non-moving violations I had to appear in court, this time the officer just said fill out the paperwork, write the check, and mail it in. According to him, I should have had my license back by now.

Thanks for any help in advance....

 

Get a good traffic lawyer, he'll probably be able to save you time and $$$ and you probably don't have to go to traffic school.

 

Any other moving violations recently (last couple years)? Are you over 25?

If the answers are NO and YES (in that order) I wouldn't worry too much, I'd just pay the fine and get my license back. Lawyer, court, traffic school....... that all seems like too much $$$ and hassle to me. It's not like you got a DUI or drag racing ticket. I don't see your insurance rates being impacted anything signifigant unless you're pretty young and/or have a shady record.

 

No moving violations and yes over 25.