Do I have to pay a red light photo ticket from illinois?
August 24, 2022 7:26 AM Subscribe
I got a ticket in the mail from rosemont Illinois, photo enforcement program. My friend told me you no longer have to pay red light tickets, because they are unconstitutional or something, so if I don't pay it, nothing happens. Is that true?
Can I just not pay this without reprecussion?
Thanks
Local Illinois perspective: do I know people who ignore red light camera tickets? Yes.
Are these people I would take any life advice from, especially legal? No.
This entirely depends on your risk tolerance relative to law enforcement. Mine is very very low, so I just pay any minor reasonable traffic violation without a second though.
posted by zenon at 7:58 AM on August 24, 2022 [5 favorites]
Are these people I would take any life advice from, especially legal? No.
This entirely depends on your risk tolerance relative to law enforcement. Mine is very very low, so I just pay any minor reasonable traffic violation without a second though.
posted by zenon at 7:58 AM on August 24, 2022 [5 favorites]
Red light cameras are a source of tens of millions of dollars for the State of Illinois each year. They can and do pursue collection. They want their money and will eventually double the fine if you don’t either challenge or pay it.
Urban legends about the unconstitutionality of red light cameras have been in circulation from the start, and while there were some early victories concerning implementation (private companies issuing legal citations was a problem that has since been remedied) the blanket process of receiving a citation based on an automated picture has never been successfully challenged.
Here is a short article debunking the claims of unconstitutionality for red light tickets.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:38 AM on August 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
Urban legends about the unconstitutionality of red light cameras have been in circulation from the start, and while there were some early victories concerning implementation (private companies issuing legal citations was a problem that has since been remedied) the blanket process of receiving a citation based on an automated picture has never been successfully challenged.
Here is a short article debunking the claims of unconstitutionality for red light tickets.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:38 AM on August 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
I agree with Tell Me No Lies, but I would add a slight silver lining to this gray cloud: automated red light tickets being, as they are, strictly money-making endeavors, they do not report to insurance companies or employers (if that's relevant to your situation) and paying the invoice makes it go away forever with no lingering repercussions.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:58 AM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:58 AM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
There's a related risk: if a bench warrant is issued for an unpaid ticket based off of your car registration, it can be pulled up in your home state if you ever get pulled over there, AND it can prevent you from being able to renew your registration.
posted by Silvery Fish at 9:32 AM on August 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Silvery Fish at 9:32 AM on August 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
Do you live in Illinois? Do you ever intend to visit Illinois again in your life? If the answer to both of these questions is "no", then you might be able to ignore them and hope Illinois isn't actually going to go to the trouble of extraditing you or garnishing your wages in your home state. Note that this answer has nothing to do with constitutionality so much as it does with the ability of Illinois to serve you any sort of warrant.
If the answer is "yes" (which, y'know, it probably is, if only because Chicago is a place and there are often good reasons to at the very least transit through Chicago), you're happier paying it, because if you are ever in Illinois and come to the attention of law enforcement for any reason whatsoever, they might notice that there's an unpaid fine which probably turns into a bench warrant and that gives them all sorts of legal leverage over you that their generally wanting to hassle you for no good reason would not give them.
If you want to argue that a fine is invalid (on constitutional or other grounds), you have to take a positive action to argue it. Just ignoring it does not make it go away.
posted by jackbishop at 10:05 AM on August 24, 2022
If the answer is "yes" (which, y'know, it probably is, if only because Chicago is a place and there are often good reasons to at the very least transit through Chicago), you're happier paying it, because if you are ever in Illinois and come to the attention of law enforcement for any reason whatsoever, they might notice that there's an unpaid fine which probably turns into a bench warrant and that gives them all sorts of legal leverage over you that their generally wanting to hassle you for no good reason would not give them.
If you want to argue that a fine is invalid (on constitutional or other grounds), you have to take a positive action to argue it. Just ignoring it does not make it go away.
posted by jackbishop at 10:05 AM on August 24, 2022
Years ago I sent a check to pay a speeding ticket from West Virginia - they never received it and I wasn't in the habit of checking my checks. When I went in to renew my NY license, I found it had been suspended.
On a broader note, that ticket was for going 60ish in a 55 zone - an infraction that would almost never be ticketed in NY. Does that matter? No. I was going over the speed limit, which is illegal and contributes to danger on the roads, no matter the norms about enforcement where I grew up. Running a red light is illegal and contributes to danger on the roads. What motivations would your friend have to argue that there shouldn't be consequences?
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:31 AM on August 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
On a broader note, that ticket was for going 60ish in a 55 zone - an infraction that would almost never be ticketed in NY. Does that matter? No. I was going over the speed limit, which is illegal and contributes to danger on the roads, no matter the norms about enforcement where I grew up. Running a red light is illegal and contributes to danger on the roads. What motivations would your friend have to argue that there shouldn't be consequences?
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:31 AM on August 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
it can prevent you from being able to renew your registration.
Even if you'd like to ignore the smug look on the officer's face when he returns to your window with your license, registration, & proof of insurance, the next time you get pulled over; this is why you must pay the ticket. Because of reciprocity, you cannot count on jurisdictions being oblivious to your violations elsewhere.
posted by Rash at 10:40 AM on August 24, 2022
Even if you'd like to ignore the smug look on the officer's face when he returns to your window with your license, registration, & proof of insurance, the next time you get pulled over; this is why you must pay the ticket. Because of reciprocity, you cannot count on jurisdictions being oblivious to your violations elsewhere.
posted by Rash at 10:40 AM on August 24, 2022
I would add a slight silver lining to this gray cloud: automated red light tickets [are not reported] to insurance companies [...] and paying the invoice makes it go away forever with no lingering repercussions.
There is a very small exception to this according to the Illinois DOT.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:57 AM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
There is a very small exception to this according to the Illinois DOT.
11-605.3(c) Failure to obey stop sign or red light on a park zone streetThis infraction does go on your driving record with 20 demerit points and is reported to insurance companies as a moving violation.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:57 AM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Check for an online appeal / contest process. I know Chicago has one for parking violations; this is quite different, of course, but the only way to fight back is to actually fight back. Make it a slightly less efficient way for them to make money, at least.
posted by amtho at 11:09 AM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by amtho at 11:09 AM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
There's a related risk: if a bench warrant is issued for an unpaid ticket based off of your car registration, it can be pulled up in your home state if you ever get pulled over there, AND it can prevent you from being able to renew your registration.
Years ago my husband and I were pulled over for turning right on a red light (out of a parking lot driveway). There was no sign, but there was half of a post where the sign used to be. No matter, they ran our info and Husband had a bench warrant for an unpaid ticket several years prior for an expired license plate. He was taken away in handcuffs and I was told that if I kept "speaking up" they'd tow our car. I got the $400 bail money out of an ATM and bailed Husband out and we spent most of the night searching through Banker Boxes in the attic to finally find the cancelled check that proved he had paid that ticket. At his court hearing the stop sign nonsense was dismissed, but we never were refunded the bail money, plus we were charged an extra $200 for "court costs". (PS This wasn't in Mayberry or some other rural town, it was Grosse Pointe, Michigan, not necessarily a town that relies on fleecing traffic offenders for income.)
Long story short - pay that ticket. You never know when it may come back to haunt you.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:33 PM on August 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
Years ago my husband and I were pulled over for turning right on a red light (out of a parking lot driveway). There was no sign, but there was half of a post where the sign used to be. No matter, they ran our info and Husband had a bench warrant for an unpaid ticket several years prior for an expired license plate. He was taken away in handcuffs and I was told that if I kept "speaking up" they'd tow our car. I got the $400 bail money out of an ATM and bailed Husband out and we spent most of the night searching through Banker Boxes in the attic to finally find the cancelled check that proved he had paid that ticket. At his court hearing the stop sign nonsense was dismissed, but we never were refunded the bail money, plus we were charged an extra $200 for "court costs". (PS This wasn't in Mayberry or some other rural town, it was Grosse Pointe, Michigan, not necessarily a town that relies on fleecing traffic offenders for income.)
Long story short - pay that ticket. You never know when it may come back to haunt you.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:33 PM on August 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
tl;dr - your friend is mistaking "easy to fight" for "ok to ignore."
posted by dum spiro spero at 12:57 PM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by dum spiro spero at 12:57 PM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Do you live in Illinois? Do you ever intend to visit Illinois again in your life? If the answer to both of these questions is "no", then you might be able to ignore them and hope Illinois isn't actually going to go to the trouble of extraditing you or garnishing your wages in your home state
What will happen, and this is what happened to me in a different Chicago suburb, is that the municipality will skip the legal nonsense and just send it to a collection agency.
If you continue to ignore the bill it will go on your credit report as a delinquent debt. That will stick on your report for years (up to seven) as a negative impact, even if you pay it off.
Proceed at your own risk.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:23 PM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
What will happen, and this is what happened to me in a different Chicago suburb, is that the municipality will skip the legal nonsense and just send it to a collection agency.
If you continue to ignore the bill it will go on your credit report as a delinquent debt. That will stick on your report for years (up to seven) as a negative impact, even if you pay it off.
Proceed at your own risk.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:23 PM on August 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have strong opinions about the Village of Rosemont. One of them is that it exists solely to squeeze fines out of tourists who get lost on the way to the airport. This 100% will go to collections if you don’t pay.
posted by hwyengr at 1:34 PM on August 24, 2022
posted by hwyengr at 1:34 PM on August 24, 2022
My friend, please pay the ticket. The state of Illinois and the city of Rosemont really like their money - and they like your money even more. They do not care about your friend's perspective and your friend will not share in your upcoming misfortune.
posted by mutt.cyberspace at 5:39 PM on August 24, 2022
posted by mutt.cyberspace at 5:39 PM on August 24, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 7:43 AM on August 24, 2022 [3 favorites]