Legal Question in Traffic Law in Illinois

Re: ''Incorrect time written on citation''

I have been asked this question many times over the last 23 years. The fact is that the mistakes on your citation are of no real consequence. The date of your birth and the alleged time of the infraction are not "elements" of the charge against you (speeding). In any event, the state's attorney (prosecutor) has the authority to amend the charge against you and could quite easily correct any errors on the ticket if necessary. More importantly, the cost of pleading "not guilty" and fighting the ticket either in attorney's fees or in your own time and effort would far outweigh the benefit in most cases. In the vast majority of speeding ticket trials, whether or not the defendant is represented by counsel, it all boils down to the officer's word against the driver's word. Often the officer also has "evidence" such as radar to support his testimony. Most people would be well advised to hire an attorney to "plea bargain" the charge so that no conviction is recorded. In Illinois it is quite common for a defendant to avoid the conviction by pleading guilty and being placed on "supervision" (bench probation) for a brief period, usually 30 to 90 days during which the defendant must simply avoid any other charges. The defendant will also pay the Court a fine and Court costs, but in the long run, the defendant will save much more money than he(or she) spends since the defendant's insurance company will not learn about the ticket and will not cancel insurance or raise premiums as a result. I hope that this has been of some assistance to you.

Re: ''Incorrect time written on citation''

You can always use the error as evidence that the officer was not accurate in recording the actual facts. But, in a practical sense, I've never seen a judge deny a prosecutor's oral motion to amend the complaint at trial to reflect the correct time of day. GOOD LUCK!

Re: ''Incorrect time written on citation''

You can always plead guilty, and if you do the prosecutor has to prove you guilty. However, the judge will likely disregard the error in the time, unless the speed limit changed with the time of the day, such as if the speed limit was 55 most of the day, but 35 from noon to 4 p.m.