Illinois rethinks taking driver's licenses for traffic tickets

[linda]

hey i've got a question. Can an officer site a driver if the driver has parked at his residence and gone inside not knowing that he had committed any traffic violation?
This happened yesterday to my son.

[Da Fuzz]

linda wrote:

hey i've got a question. Can an officer site a driver if the driver has parked at his residence and gone inside not knowing that he had committed any traffic violation?
This happened yesterday to my son.

The short answer is yes. Ideally he should have written him when he observed the violation. Sometimes you see a traffic violation, get a call, and can't make the stop. I usually let that little fishy get away.

[CPD Need Hobbies]

Who are these cops anyways? 60 credit hour holding, community college going people who want to feel "special" because they wear some stupid badge? PLEASE! It is as easy to become a Chicago cop as it is to get a job at McDonalds! A few laps around some university campus, attending "traninig school" where you don't even actually train but is more like a second high school where you goof off and finally graduate after like a year?...stop being lazy and go to a real college, earn a degree and educate yourself!

[Hegewish Cop Trap]

Beware of the cop trap on 130th St. going towards Torrence Ave.(coming off the I-90 expressway near the Ford Plant!) Go 35 MPH! Them bitches will get you!

[Chicago driver]

I just got a ticket yesterday for "disobey solid red signal". I was turning left onto Fullerton from Lincoln Ave heading West. I was in the intersection when the light was green and completed my turn after it went red. The cop pulled me over and said I ran a red light. I looked it up and it clearly states that if you are in the intersection when the light is green to make a left turn you may finish your turn even if the light turns red...I have to go to court on Oct. 23 and deal with this crap now. Funny how close we are to the end of the month...

[Carl from chicago]

I am new here in chicago and just got stopped, the cop took my license away, i thought she had forgotten to give it back and I was actually looking for a police department phone# here on the net. I am really impressed by the stupidity of this law. its really amazing, I just cant believe it...

[RPMarSr]

As was already noted.. for those who seem to be so conscious of traveling burdens from lack of ID should 1) have a readily available bond card, 2)already have another state photo ID, or 3) not back down from wanting to put up a $75 cash bond, (YES we don't mind following you to a cssh station for it). Certain offenses: DUI, operating without insurance, misdemeanor offenses, don't allow the discretion of not taking a driver's license. Responsible driving means taking more precaution than just looking in your rear view as you pull out.

[Sam]

i got my license taken from me because my license plate light went out.

[Downstate Resident]

In response to one of the comments, I live south of Kankakee, and my licence got taken, anyway. You don't get to keep your licence just because you're further away from Chicago. I, too, thought the Cop had kept it by accident, I didn't realize he was more or less required to do so.

Here's my problem with insisting on the I-Bond or some other tactics: it doesn't help the unsuspecting tax-paying citizens of Illinois that will get inconvenienced in this manner, the ones who DONT know that they have any options other than surrendering their licence, and that's if the cop even bothers to tell us he's keeping it. These people constitute the majority of Illinoisans, as I bet most folks don't know what kind of rude awakening they're in for if they get pulled over.

In support of your fellow citizens, if you have time at a traffic stop, you SHOULD bog down the system by insisting on the bond. Tell all your friends and relatives so the potential pool of people doing this increases. In my job as an Engineer and in my day to day life, I can tell you that no one ever made a change because a small minority of people whined. You must take action in your own way; in a way that makes them feel the bite in their wallet. Of course, when they fix it, they'll say they're doing it for the citizens to make our lives easier, with no mention about how much it suddenly started costing them. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that the way this could backfire is them raising taxes to deal with the increased costs or taking money that could have gone towards other endeavors that we may or may not find valuable.

For me, I shall call about substituting a cash bond for my licence, meaning I'll have to attempt to track down the cop and ask if he'll prety please forward my licence to the city clerk since I'm travelling in two days. So now I have to kiss his a.s.s. Even though my real instinct is to yell at him for shoving a thing up my you know what in this manner. I know, I know, he's just doing his job! Of course, if they can produce licence quick enough, I'll march to the DMV and ask for a replacement. This would ordinarily be my first choice but theyre closed on Monday.

PS: Another way IL is backwards is that Georgia where I lived has been able to look up insurance info using the cop computers since probably before 2005. IL still relies on a piece of paper even though a) I could have cancelled the darn thing for a refund two minutes after it arrived in the mail OR b) I haven't even had to look at the paper documentation, let alone remembered to put it in my car cos it's 2009 and I paid it online. Yep, I f'ed up by not complying with the law as currently written, but why are Illinois civil servants sitting on their asses instead of using our taxes to help and upgrade us?

Don't buy the junk about 2.4 mil. It's been years and anyone who has to make purchases of 1/100th of that magnitude knows that a) technology especially computer-related gets cheaper as time goes on, or worst case, b) you get WAY more bang for the same amount of money.

The talk about people not showing up for court because they got to keep their licence is also bogus as heck. Just ask, HTH are the other states handling it? You mean to tell me we're the only ones doing it right? We don't live on an island, you know! There is nothing wrong with learnig from our brothers and sisters who run other states!

[Downstate Resident]

Just to clarify my statement about I-bond, I'm in favor of whichever method takes the most amount of time and causes the most inconvenience to the PD. if the I-bond let's you off on the spot, if you have the time, in wish world I would much rather see you insist on the cashbond with no mention of I-bond. And certainly don't let them take your licence because you have a backup state ID. Just my preference, anyway. You're the ones that'll know what you can afford to do when the time comes.

If they stop allowing us to post a cash bond at the police station, we can easily win a complaint on that issue.

[Chicago]

I had my license taken (even though I asked explicitly if there was anything I could do/pay to keep it) for not moving into the left lane on the highway, where a car was pulled over on the shoulder. Now I have to wait 6 weeks for my court date, and drive back to a location 200 miles from home. In the meantime, I will get a State ID for travel and buying Sudafed, but does anyone know how how to rent a car without a license (esp. in another State, where they are unfamiliar with the IL law)???