Willow Spring - 1st Ever Speeding Ticket :(

[mattywo85]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I get the feeling that the only offer "3 choices" as a "legal requirement" -- fact is they really don't care about "convictions" or "court appearance". They want the revenue and the traffic schools at least gives the cited motorist an option to keep their driving record clear.

It is 100% about revenue, the conviction on your record is really irrelevant unless you have 50 of them within a short time frame.

[yogao]

Towns don't receive a lot of money from traffic citations unless they are written as local ordinance citations. If they use the state of Illinois citation they hardly get any of the money collected (used to be around $7 - $10 per citation, but I'm not sure anymore since I don't write them anymore).

The state has cracked down on this surprise surprise because they want the $$$

Depending on the town, even if the officer isn't in court, there normally is a lawyer for that city that would represent the officer, and get a continuance if the defendant wanted to challenge the ticket.

I would go with option #2 and pay the extra money to not have it go on your record. While the chance is slim your insurance company would raise your rates after one ticket, why even give them the opportunity if this is your only ticket.