Post by Rob W. Case on Sept 15, 2010 0:50:15 GMT -6
I sent this out on my Facebook page. Thought you all should know as well.
Drive safely and within the confines of the speed limit.
You can be sure the Cops will be out, and slicker than ever in their efforts to catch violators.
Speeding becomes a high-ticket item
Fines will zoom up as much as 60% for lead-footed drivers Sept. 15
September 4, 2010
BY DAVE McKINNEY AND STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporters
www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/2674776,CST-NWS-speeding05.article
Being a speed demon on Illinois roads soon could take a bigger bite out of your bank account.
Fines for a series of minor but common traffic offenses will go up by as much as 60 percent -- adding $45 to the typical speeding ticket -- after the Illinois Supreme Court signed off on new charges that take effect Sept. 15.
The increases pertain to situations in which motorists get ticketed for garden-variety traffic infractions, such as speeding, but aren't required to show up in Traffic Court.
Instead, drivers plead guilty, pay the ticketing officer or mail in a payment to the court as bond and have that payment stand as the eventual fine for the offense. The approach typically is much cheaper than going to court, where court costs can easily put the final bill for a speeding ticket well above $200.
Under the new bond structure, speeding 20 mph or less over the posted limit will cost $120 for those who bypass Traffic Court. The current bond is $75.
Costs for several other infractions, such as not wearing a seat belt or driving on a suspended or revoked license, will jump as well in the first court-imposed mail-in bond increases since 1993.
"Everybody was in agreement the amount should go up because it's been 17 years since the last increase. We realized that the consumer price index had gone up a whole lot in that time. We realized we were less than a lot of the states," said Champaign County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Ford, who chaired the Supreme Court subcommittee that recommended the increases.
"Part of the purpose of bond is for people to show up in court and not violate any other laws. If it's seen as a bargain, and we don't need to show up in court, it's seen as a disrespect for the law. If it costs you a little more, you'll think about a ticket a little more," Ford said.
The increases have the potential to pump more revenues into some cash-strapped county and local governments, though there are no firm estimates from the courts, the secretary of state's office or the Illinois Municipal League.
But in DuPage County, where about 185,000 tickets get adjudicated annually by the court system there, Circuit Court Clerk Chris Katcharoubus predicted Friday the higher fee structure could result in "a couple million dollars or so" more for the county.
A spokeswoman for Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown did not have estimates available Friday on the financial impact of the increases in the state's most populous county.
"The financial impact was not something we looked at because we see this as bond," said Ford, the Champaign County judge. "But of course, with the petty offenses where the person can just use their bond money to pay, there'll be a financial increase in the amount of money getting paid to the [Circuit Court] clerks. But that's a by-product of it."
Whatever increase governments outside Springfield see could blunt the expected financial blow from a new law Gov. Quinn enacted in July to take $15 out of each mail-in bond payment and channel those funds to the State Police, which the Illinois Municipal League and Republicans opposed on grounds it would mean less money from tickets for local and county governments to divide.
The legislation passed the Democratic-led General Assembly as an alternative to massive layoffs Quinn threatened against the State Police last spring in a bid to offset the state's $13 billion budget deficit.
Fees for mail-in bonds get divvied up so that 44.5 percent of the cost a motorist pays goes to the local government where the ticket was written. Another nearly 39 percent goes to the county in which the ticket was written, and about 17 percent goes to the state treasurer.
With the state's economy in the dumps, the higher cost that soon will be imposed on some traffic offenses wasn't a popular topic among those leaving Traffic Court at the Daley Center on Friday -- even though most of those motorists would not have had the option of simply mailing in $75 to settle their traffic infractions and bypass court.
"That's terrible because a lot of people have lost their jobs," Barbara Oladunni, 40, an unemployed South Sider, said of the increases that will kick in in two weeks. "Speeding is a serious offense because somebody could get hurt, but I think the [new fines] are a little ridiculous."
"Man, that's too much," said Michael Green, 32, a South Sider and a forklift operator, when told of the new fee structure. "They've already got their hands in too many people's pockets. I'm going to be more careful. I'm going to drive like somebody's grandfather."
© Copyright 2010 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Drive safely and within the confines of the speed limit.
You can be sure the Cops will be out, and slicker than ever in their efforts to catch violators.
Speeding becomes a high-ticket item
Fines will zoom up as much as 60% for lead-footed drivers Sept. 15
September 4, 2010
BY DAVE McKINNEY AND STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporters
www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/2674776,CST-NWS-speeding05.article
Being a speed demon on Illinois roads soon could take a bigger bite out of your bank account.
Fines for a series of minor but common traffic offenses will go up by as much as 60 percent -- adding $45 to the typical speeding ticket -- after the Illinois Supreme Court signed off on new charges that take effect Sept. 15.
The increases pertain to situations in which motorists get ticketed for garden-variety traffic infractions, such as speeding, but aren't required to show up in Traffic Court.
Instead, drivers plead guilty, pay the ticketing officer or mail in a payment to the court as bond and have that payment stand as the eventual fine for the offense. The approach typically is much cheaper than going to court, where court costs can easily put the final bill for a speeding ticket well above $200.
Under the new bond structure, speeding 20 mph or less over the posted limit will cost $120 for those who bypass Traffic Court. The current bond is $75.
Costs for several other infractions, such as not wearing a seat belt or driving on a suspended or revoked license, will jump as well in the first court-imposed mail-in bond increases since 1993.
"Everybody was in agreement the amount should go up because it's been 17 years since the last increase. We realized that the consumer price index had gone up a whole lot in that time. We realized we were less than a lot of the states," said Champaign County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Ford, who chaired the Supreme Court subcommittee that recommended the increases.
"Part of the purpose of bond is for people to show up in court and not violate any other laws. If it's seen as a bargain, and we don't need to show up in court, it's seen as a disrespect for the law. If it costs you a little more, you'll think about a ticket a little more," Ford said.
The increases have the potential to pump more revenues into some cash-strapped county and local governments, though there are no firm estimates from the courts, the secretary of state's office or the Illinois Municipal League.
But in DuPage County, where about 185,000 tickets get adjudicated annually by the court system there, Circuit Court Clerk Chris Katcharoubus predicted Friday the higher fee structure could result in "a couple million dollars or so" more for the county.
A spokeswoman for Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown did not have estimates available Friday on the financial impact of the increases in the state's most populous county.
"The financial impact was not something we looked at because we see this as bond," said Ford, the Champaign County judge. "But of course, with the petty offenses where the person can just use their bond money to pay, there'll be a financial increase in the amount of money getting paid to the [Circuit Court] clerks. But that's a by-product of it."
Whatever increase governments outside Springfield see could blunt the expected financial blow from a new law Gov. Quinn enacted in July to take $15 out of each mail-in bond payment and channel those funds to the State Police, which the Illinois Municipal League and Republicans opposed on grounds it would mean less money from tickets for local and county governments to divide.
The legislation passed the Democratic-led General Assembly as an alternative to massive layoffs Quinn threatened against the State Police last spring in a bid to offset the state's $13 billion budget deficit.
Fees for mail-in bonds get divvied up so that 44.5 percent of the cost a motorist pays goes to the local government where the ticket was written. Another nearly 39 percent goes to the county in which the ticket was written, and about 17 percent goes to the state treasurer.
With the state's economy in the dumps, the higher cost that soon will be imposed on some traffic offenses wasn't a popular topic among those leaving Traffic Court at the Daley Center on Friday -- even though most of those motorists would not have had the option of simply mailing in $75 to settle their traffic infractions and bypass court.
"That's terrible because a lot of people have lost their jobs," Barbara Oladunni, 40, an unemployed South Sider, said of the increases that will kick in in two weeks. "Speeding is a serious offense because somebody could get hurt, but I think the [new fines] are a little ridiculous."
"Man, that's too much," said Michael Green, 32, a South Sider and a forklift operator, when told of the new fee structure. "They've already got their hands in too many people's pockets. I'm going to be more careful. I'm going to drive like somebody's grandfather."
© Copyright 2010 Sun-Times Media, LLC