Ticket Fines and Penalties in Illinois

Illinois Traffic Ticket Fines and Costs

Traffic ticket fines vary throughout Illinois. Typically, each county and municipality sets its own fines.

Check your ticket for information about your costs; most tickets have the information printed on them. Our Lost Traffic Ticket section can help you gather the necessary information if you’ve misplaced your ticket.

Surcharges

Like traffic ticket fines, court costs and other surcharges vary by location. Your ticket may or may not include this information; if it doesn’t, get a heads up by contacting your court.

DUI Surcharges

Likewise, fines related to DUI vary by location. You could pay anywhere from $250-$500 to have your license reinstated after a DUI conviction (see below) but the initial DUI-related fine will depend on where you’re ticketed.

For more information on DUI in Illinois, check Chapter Six of the Illinois Rules of the Road.

Auto Insurance Rate Increase

It’s not unusual for an auto insurance company to increase a driver’s rates for receiving a traffic violation. Check with your provider any time you get a traffic ticket and:

• Plead guilty, pay the fine, and receive a conviction rather than the opportunity to attend traffic safety school and keep the violation off your record.
• Fight the ticket but receive a guilty verdict.

Both are scenarios that could get you higher auto insurance rates; if either does, shop for lower car insurance rates online.

IL Traffic Ticket Penalties

Illinois traffic fines, court costs, and other related surcharges vary throughout the state, but additional penalties stay the same across the board.

Illinois Point System

Illinois uses a point system, meaning if you are convicted of a traffic violation you will receive a certain number of points on your driving record. Points range from five to 50, and the number you receive depends on your violation.

Some drivers can enroll in a traffic safety school per the Northwestern University for Public Safety to reduce points; others, depending on where they received their tickets, can even keep violations off their driving records by enrolling.

Learn more at our Point Reduction section.

IL Driver’s License Suspension, Revocation, and Cancellation

The SOS will suspend, revoke, or cancel your license for certain violations.

License Suspension: In most cases, suspension is a temporary loss of license. You’ll have to pay a fine and wait a specific amount of time until you can get your license back. Less often, but not unheard of, you’ll have to satisfy some other requirement, too.

License Revocation: Revocation withdrawals your driving privileges indefinitely. Usually, you can reapply for your license after a minimum of one year, but this is a possibility rather than a standard rule.

License Cancellation: Typically, when Illinois cancels a license, it’s for a medical condition-related reason, because the applicant was ineligible or provided false information, or the driver failed to satisfy a re-examination requirement.

Chapter 8 of the Illinois Rules of the Road provides a complete look at all the ways a driver can lose his license to suspension, revocation, or cancellation. Some traffic violation-related examples include:

• Failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
• Failure to obey a railroad-crossing signal.
• Causing a crash in a construction zone.
• Reckless driving.
• Drag racing or street racing.
• DUI or aggravated DUI.
• Refusing to take, or failing, a drug or alcohol test.

Accumulating a certain number of points can lead to license suspension, too. For example, if you accumulate:

• 15 or more points as a first-time offender (meaning your license hasn’t been suspended or revoked during the last seven years), you could lose your license anywhere from two to 12 months.
• 15 or more points as a repeat offender (meaning your license has been suspended or revoked during the last seven years), you could lose your license anywhere from four to 12 months.

Check our section on the IL point system for more details.

Penalties for Drivers Younger than 21

Drivers younger than 21 often face stiffer penalties. For example, if you’re convicted of:

• Violating the nighttime driving restrictions, your license can be suspended.
• An alcohol-related offense, you can lose your license for a minimum of three months.
• Two moving violations during a 24-month period, you can lose your license for 30 days.
• Any violations during your initial permit phase, your nine-month “conviction-free” period (the one you must complete before you can move on in the GDL process) starts all over.

Chapter Three of the Illinois Rules of the Road fully explains requirements, rules, and regulations for drivers younger than 21.

Penalties for Illinois Commercial Drivers

Typically, an Illinois CDL holder must notify his employer within 30 days of receiving a traffic ticket, and the SOS within 30 days of receiving an out-of-state traffic ticket.

When an IL commercial driver loses his CDL for any length of time, Illinois refers to it as “disqualification.” This means the CDL holder is disqualified from using his CDL.

Examples of offenses that lead to CDL disqualification include:

• Refusing to submit to chemical testing.
• Any DUI-related conviction, regardless of BAC.
• Leaving the scene of an accident while operating a CMV.
• Committing a felony with a CMV.
• Excessive speeding.
• Reckless driving.
• Following another vehicle too closely.
• Improper lane usage (changing lanes improperly or erratically).

Note that if you commit two serious offenses in a three-year period, you can get a two-month disqualification; committing three in a three year-period brings a four-month disqualification.

For more information, check Section One of the Illinois Commercial Driver’s License Study Guide.