Vehicle Equipment Laws in IL

[TomInMarketing]

Hello, my name is Tom and Im from IL, cook county. I have a question about equipenmt laws in this state. I recently recieved a ticked for having a headlight out. When the cop asked me if i knew about the headlight being out, i said "yes.." and he cut me off and said he'll be right back. He didnt let me finish that I only knew about it for 15minutes. So he gave me a $25 ticket and that was it. Everyone i talked to told me to ask for a hearing and tell the judge that i had only known about it for a few min. On the ticked it said i can pay the $25 -or- Fill in and mail the request for a hearing by Sep 25th. I mailed the request on the 24th and have a mailing reciept for proof. Today, I got a respose from the police dept (sep 29th) stating that the fine is now $50 if paid before the hearing or $85 if paid at the hearing (assuming i loose) There was nothing about these costs on the ticket i got, i assumed that if i mail in the request by the 24th and that if i loose the case my fine will still be $25. Had i known that this would cost so much more i would have just paid the $25. Now, my question, is it worth trying to go to the hearing (and pssibly paying $85) or just paying the $50 fine before the hearing? Or do I have another option that i dont know of?

 

[teflon_jones]

Was there a statute referenced on the front of the ticket that gave the date it needed to be mailed in by? Normally tickets have this. You need to refer to this statue to see what it says about them raising the fines. Normally sending a request for a hearing within the specified time means they can't raise the fines, but it really depends on what the statute says!

 

[TomInMarketing]

I was positive it said i have to mail it in by the 25th, when i mailed it on the 24th I paid $1.90 for the proof of mailing reciept. But, when i called the dept to ask why they increased the fine all i could get to was a recording that said that "(fine)payment must be recieved by our office by the date on the ticket. Untill I heard that, I was sure that it said that i have to mail it by the date on the ticket, and not that they have to recieve it by that date. Is there anyway I can go to the police dept and ask to see one of their tickets or to see the "request for hearing" slip?

 

[FHawk]

You're free to ask. You should have been able to appear in court on a date specified on the citation, and have the ticket dismissed by the judge with proof that you had fixed the problem.