IL Traffic Ticket: Supervision, Conviction, Fine and Court Costs, Traffic School, Points on License, Lake County

Lake County Traffic Tickets:

Your ticket can cost you your drivers' license. Hire an attorney and save yourself from more serious legal problems.

Court Appearance Required

Why Hire an Attorney

Failure to Appear

Court Appearance NOT Required

Court Supervision

Traffic Ticket Fines & Court Costs

Lake County Traffic Court Locations

Traffic tickets can suspend or even revoke your drivers' license. If you get pulled over driving on a suspended or revoked license, you face a Class A misdemeanor (up to 364 days in jail and a $2,500 fine), and the Secretary of State will double the length of your suspension or revocation. It is NOT a defense that you didn't know your license was suspended or revoked, or that you had to drive to get to work.

Court Appearance Required

The police officer who issued the traffic ticket will indicate whether a court appearance is required. If a court appearance is required, the motorist should contact an attorney to obtain representation in traffic court.

Why Hire an Attorney

Judges in Lake County traffic court are NOT permitted to advise defendants about the possible consequences of pleading guilty. Judges may not advise defendants about whether their traffic tickets will cause the Secretary of State to suspend or revoke their drivers' licenses. For this reason, defendants should talk to an attorney who understands traffic law and drivers' license issues.

Besides increased insurance premiums and drivers' license points, the primary reason to retain a lawyer is that a suspension or revocation of your drivers' license may result in legal fees that are ten times higher than what it costs to hire an attorney in traffic court. Driving while your license is suspended or revoked is a Class A misdemeanor for which the sentence can be up to 364 days in county jail and a $2,500 fine (which does not include court costs or legal fees). At any given time, the Lake County jail probably has more than 300 inmates who are serving a jail sentence for driving during a suspension or revocation.

Failure to Appear

Failing to appear for a traffic court date can result in the suspension of your driving privileges by the Illinois Secretary of State. When this occurs, your license will be suspended until you go back to traffic court to answer the charges of traffic violations. Usually this will require an attorney to motion up and re-open the case. The Lake County judge presiding in traffic court may also issue a warrant for your arrest. When you are arrested on the warrant, you may be held in the Lake County jail until you can post a cash bond or until your next court date.

Court Appearance NOT Required

The motorist's ticket will indicate whether a court appearance is required. Most tickets do not require a court appearance. When a court appearance is NOT required, the motorist has the following three options:

Option A: Plead guilty and pay a fine (either in person at the Circuit Clerk’s office or by sending a certified check in the mail).*

* The Circuit Clerk will NOT accept personal checks. If paying in person, go to 18 N. County St in Waukegan. The Circuit Clerk will only accept certified checks, Discover credit cards, and cash.

Option B: Plead NOT guilty, request a trial, and appear in court for trial.

Option C: Plead guilty, complete traffic school, and receive court supervision.

Court Supervision

Supervision is a special sentence for a traffic violation. It is frequently called a deferred prosecution. When a motorist receives court supervision for a traffic violation, the court defers or postpones the case for a period of three months (90 days). During this time, the motorist is considered to be under the supervision of the court. At the conclusion of the three-month period, the court will dismiss the traffic violation without a conviction provided the motorist has not received any other traffic citations.

Court supervision is reported to the Secretary of State, but not as a conviction. Because it is not reported as a conviction, it does not cause the Secretary to assign points to person’s drivers’ license. However, if the court determines that a motorist has received another traffic ticket during the three-month period of supervision, the court will revoke that motorist’s supervision and enter a conviction. When this occurs, the conviction is reported to the Secretary of State and goes on the motorist’s driving record. The conviction will also result in the accrual of points on that person’s drivers’ license.

The entry of a conviction may also result in the suspension or revocation of a person's drivers' license.

Lake County Traffic Ticket Fines & Court Costs

Below is a sample of the most common traffic tickets and their average total fines and court costs. Total fines and costs may increase depending on the facts and circumstances of each traffic violation (e.g., whether the violation resulted in an accident and the motorist's driving record).

Speeding 1-20 miles per hour above the speed limit: $75
Speeding 21-30 miles per hour above the speed limit: $95
No seat belt (failure to wear safety restraint): $55
Expired license plates (improper registration): $75
Failure to signal: $75
Failure to yield to oncoming traffic: $75
Improper passing on the left: $75
Improper traffic lane usage (ILU): $75
Improper passing on the shoulder: $75
Failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident: $75
Disregarding an official traffic control device (running red light or failure to stop at stop sign): $75
Unsafe backing on a roadway: $75
Defective windshield (cracked windshield): $75

Lake County Traffic Court Locations

The county operates four traffic courts throughout Lake County. Below is a list of the traffic courts, along with their contact information.

Mundelein Branch Court | Mundelein, IL Traffic Court -----------------------------------

Mundelein Branch Court

105 E. Route 83

Mundelein, IL

Tel: 847.377.3300

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Park City Branch Court | Park City, IL Traffic Court -----------------------------------

Park City Branch Court

301 Greenleaf Street

Park City, IL

Tel: 847.377.3500

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Round Lake Branch Court | Round Lake, IL Traffic Court ------------------------------------

Round Lake Branch Court

1792 Nicole Lane

Round Lake Beach, IL

Tel: 847.377.3400

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Waukegan Traffic Court | Lake County, IL Traffic Court ------------------------------------

Waukegan Traffic Court

18 N. County St.

Waukegan, IL

Tel: 847.377.3239

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Copyright 2010 | Gainor & Gosch, PC is an Illinois law firm concentrating in criminal, DUI, driver's license suspensions, expungement, juvenile, traffic, municipal ordinance and professional license cases. From our offices in Chicago and Waukegan, we serve both Cook County and Lake County. Our criminal lawyers and defense attorneys assist clients with arrests from Skokie, Des Plaines, Evanston, Niles, Glencoe, Deerfield, Kenilworth, Morton Grove, Glenview, Northbrook, Northfield, Park Ridge, Wilmette, Winnetka, Lincolnwood, Cook County Sheriff, Cook County Forest Preserve, and the Illinois State Police. We represent clients with Lake County traffic tickets in Park City Traffic Court (Branch Court) at 301 Greenleaf Street in Park City, in Mundelein Traffic Court (Branch Court) at 105 East Route 83 in Mundelein, in Round Lake Traffic Court (Branch Court) at 1792 Nicole Lane in Round Lake Beach, and in Waukegan Traffic Court at 18 North County Street in Waukegan. As criminal defense and DUI attorneys, we represent clients with charges from Zion, Antioch, Waukegan, Fox Lake, Round Lake Park, Round Lake Heights, Gages Lake, North Chicago, Lake Bluff, Lindenhurst, Lake Villa, Vernon Hills, Mundelein, Buffalo Grove, Round Lake Beach, Park City, Beach Park, Wauconda, Hawthorn Woods, Kildeer, Lake Zurich, Gurnee, Grayslake, Libertyville, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, Lake Forest, Highwood, Highland Park, and the Lake County Sheriff. We defend commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) in traffic court. We represent clients in the Second (2nd) Municipal District Courthouse at 5600 Old Orchard Rd in Skokie, as well as in the Third (3rd) Municipal District Courthouse at 2121 Euclid Ave in Rolling Meadows. We assist clients with Lake County Adult Probation (including supervision, supervised supervision, and conditional discharge) at the department's office at 15 South County Street in Waukegan. We are available for free consults with defendants in custody at the Robert H. Babcox Justice Center (Lake County jail) at 20 South County Street in Waukegan, as well as the Robert W. Depke Juvenile Justice Complex Minard E. Hulse Juvenile Detention Center at 24647 North Milwaukee Avenue in Vernon Hills. If you or someone you love has been arrested and charged with a criminal offense, and the court appointed an attorney from the Lake County Public Defender's Office, we offer payment plans and, in pursuit of our Christian mission, we accept some cases pro bono. If you have an arrest warrant, contact us for a free consult. We offer low-cost, affordable payment plans that some may even consider cheap. We even accept credit cards. If you missed a court date, we can assist you with changed court dates, bench warrants, motions to quash warrants, and motions to vacate bond forfeitures. Se Habla Espanol.