Mandatory Conviction and Mandatory Illinois Driver's License Suspension

Mandatory Conviction and Mandatory Illinois Driver's License Suspension

A disposition of court supervision, which by its nature is not a conviction for the offense, is permissible for many different types of Lake County traffic tickets.

Court supervision on an Illinois traffic ticket is a type of resolution where a driver is found guilty of the charge, ordered to fulfill certain conditions, but is not actually convicted of the offense.

Additionally, a driver's successful completion of the court supervision period leads to a dismissal of the charge.¹

Under Illinois law, however, court supervision is not allowed for the charge of passing a stopped school bus.²

This outright ban on court supervision makes a traffic ticket for passing a stopped school bus a mandatory conviction offense. A conviction must be entered on an Illinois driving record if the driver is found guilty of the offense.

Three Month Driver's License Suspension

Not only is a conviction mandatory, but if a conviction occurs, that conviction will trigger a mandatory 3 month suspension of an Illinois driver's license or Illinois driving privileges.³

If a driver is convicted of a second passing a stopped school bus violation that occurred within five years of a prior conviction for passing a stopped school bus, the mandatory suspension period will be one full year.⁴

Minimum Fines and Mandatory Court Appearance

Minimum Fines and Mandatory Court Appearance

A first conviction for passing a stopped school bus carries a mandatory minimum $300 fine. A second or subsequent such conviction carries a mandatory $1000 fine.⁵ Statutory assessements, also known as "court costs," also will be assessed upon a conviction.

Lake County passing a stopped school bus tickets require a court appearance and may not be resolved by mail.

Working with The HoffmanLaw Office to Defend Your Lake County Passing a Stopped School Bus Ticket

Working with The HoffmanLaw Office to Defend Your Lake County Passing a Stopped School Bus Ticket

From the foregoing, a certain equation may be deduced.

A driver issued a Lake County passing a stopped school bus ticket is required to appear in court. If that driver then is found guilty of the charge, the driver will be convicted.

If the driver is convicted, that driver's Illinois driver's license or Illinois driving privileges will be suspended a minimum of three months.

A fine of at least $300 will be be imposed along with court costs. The conviction will be recorded on an Illinois driving record and may become visible to the driver's vehicle insurance company.

Compared to the potential penalties for most other non-jailable Illinois moving violations, these penalties are extremely harsh. Yet, these penalties apply in every Lake County passing a stopped school bus case.

A driver with a spotless driving record, who may have had no tickets in thirty years, suddenly will be facing these mandatory penalties when issued a passing a stopped school bus ticket.

As an attorney, I work very hard to avoid these severely negative outcomes in the passing a stopped school bus tickets I defend in Lake County traffic court.

Methods of seeking to avoid these highly punitive results include attempting to negotiate with the prosecution for a different and reduced charge, or fighting the case all the way through trial.

The Prosecution Needs Evidence to Prove Its Case

The Prosecution Needs Evidence to Prove Its Case

If the time is taken to analyze what the prosecution must prove in a passing a stopped school bus trial, it becomes apparent, quickly, that the prosecution must prove many different things in order to achieve a guilty verdict.

As a former Lake County traffic court prosecutor, I have the ability to anticipate and identify facts and issues the prosecution may struggle with in traffic court at trial.

It's your attorney's job to know what must be proven, and to have a firm grasp on whether or not the prosecution can prove the offense of passing a stopped school bus against you at all.

A large part of that analysis relies on examining the passing a stopped school bus statute as it is found in the Illinois Vehicle Code.

And I wish to be clear: If you retain me as your lawyer to defend you against a Lake County passing a stopped school bus ticket, I will work hard to attempt to avoid the severe mandatory penalties I have outlined above.

Factors Describing Driver Actions in Relation to the School Bus

Factors Describing Driver Actions in Relation to the School Bus

Let's take a look at the statute.

The passing a stopped school bus statute states that a driver must stop before meeting or overtaking a school bus stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging students.⁶

Breaking apart this statement, then, in a passing a stopped school bus trial, the prosecution must prove that:

• As a driver of a vehicle, you failed to stop
• Before you met or overtook
• A school bus
• That was stopped
• For the purpose of receiving or discharging students.

The Illinois passing a stopped school bus statute also states, however, that the "driver of a vehicle upon a highway having 4 or more lanes which permits at least 2 lanes of traffic to travel in opposite directions need not stop such vehicle upon meeting a school bus which is stopped in the opposing roadway."⁷

Factors Describing Lights & the Stop Sign on the Bus

Factors Describing Lights & the Stop Sign on the Bus

In addition to requiring proof of the foregoing five elements, the passing a stopped school bus statute also requires a driver to stop before reaching the school bus when it is displaying the visual signals described in Sections 12-803 and 12-805 of the Illinois Vehicle Code.⁸

With this additional sentence, the passing a stopped school bus statute mandates that certain visual signals were "in operation" on the school bus when the driver who was ticketed allegedly failed to stop.

Two different statutes, entirely outside the passing a stopped school bus statute, describe these "visual signals."

This "visual signal" component of the passing a stopped school bus law adds two more elements that must be proven at trial:

• Visual signals as specified in Section 12-803 were in operation on the school bus, and
• Visual signals as specified in Section 12-805 were in operation on the school bus.

Section 12-803 of the Illinois Vehicle Code describes the "stop signal arm on the driver's side of the school bus."⁹

Section 12-805 describes the "8-lamp flashing signal system" on a school bus.¹⁰

The passing a stopped school bus statute proceeds to state that the stop signal arm required by Section 12-803 has to be extended after the school bus has reached a complete stop for the purpose of loading or discharging school students and then must be closed before the school bus proceeds.¹¹

This sentence adds yet another element to the offense of passing a stopped school bus that must be proven at trial. Specifically, the prosecution must prove that:

• After the school bus came to a complete stop to load or discharge students, the stop signal arm was extended.

Drivers ticketed for passing a stopped school bus report frequently that the stop signal arm was not extended and that the bus was still in motion at the moment those drivers were alleged to have broken the law.

If the prosecution fails to prove that the stop signal arm was extended and that the bus was at a complete stop, then this element would be missing from the alleged offense.

If any element of the alleged offense is not proven at trial, then the ticket should be dismissed by the court.

There is even more.

The passing a stopped school bus statute states also that alternately flashing red signal lamps required by Section 12-805 must be activated after the school bus reached a complete stop for the purpose of loading or discharging students and must be turned off before the school bus moves again.¹²

This part of the passing a stopped school bus statute requires the prosecution to prove that:

• Alternately flashing red signal lamps were activated after the school bus came to a complete stop for the purpose of loading or discharging students.

If the prosecution fails to prove that the "alternately flashing red signal lamps" were activated and that the school bus was at a complete stop, then this element would be missing from the offense.

The passing a stopped school bus law even describes what the school bus must do to warn drivers that it is coming to a stop.

Specifically, the school bus must activate the amber colored lights of an 8-lamp flashing signal system continuously during not less than the last 100 feet before stopping to load or discharge students in an urban area and for at least 200 feet outside an urban area.¹³

Do the Police Ever Issue a Passing Stopped School Bus Ticket by Mail?

Do the Police Ever Issue a Passing Stopped School Bus Ticket by Mail?

Occasionally, someone calls me with the question. That question goes something like this:

"I think I might be getting a ticket for passing a stopped school bus. How long does it normally take to get a ticket in the mail?"

Although I've seen and worked on cases where a driver received a traffic ticket in the mail, within a week or two of the alleged offense, in most cases this is not how police in Lake County issue traffic tickets and notices to appear in court.

The Police are not Required to Have Observed the Alleged Offense

In the case where a driver might be accused of passing a stopped school bus, but where the driver was not ticketed for the alleged offense at the scene, it's possible the school bus driver or another witness could make a complaint about the driver to the local police department.

In this sitaution, the school bus driver could provide the license plate number of the alleged offending vehicle to the police, and give the police a specific description of how the driver allegedly violated the passing a stopped school bus law.

If the police determine they have sufficient evidence based on the statements of witnesses that a violation occurred, the police may issue a ticket.

There is no requirement that the police themselves actually observed a driver unlawfully pass a stopped school bus in order to issue a ticket.

If the case proceeded to trial, a witness for the prosecution would have to identify the person who was issued the ticket as the person who committed the violation claimed to have occurred.

Police Investigation and Subsequent Issuance of a Ticket

In investigating this type of case, the police would be tasked with determining whether there's credible evidence a specific person violated the passing a stopped school bus law.

It's possible the police would contact an individual under investigation to give her or him an "opportunity" to provide "their version" of "what happened" before the police charge that person with an offense.

It may be kept in mind that anything that person says to the police could be used to incriminate that person in a court of law.

In other scenarios, the police might simply decide, upon receiving the complaint of a school bus driver or of some other witness, that they have probable cause to charge someone with the offense, and not bother to contact the suspect before just issuing a ticket.

In that situation, the police could contact and invite the individual under investigation to the police department to "pick up" a copy of their ticket. Alternatively, the police could simply mail the citation to that person's home.

Rules and procedures govern how traffic tickets may be issued and served in Illinois.

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Statutory Sources:

1. 730 ILCS 5/5-1-21 and 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3.1.   2. 730 ILCS 5/5-6-1(f).   3. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(f).   4. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(f).   5. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(f).   6. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(a).   7. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(e).   8. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(a).   9. 625 ILCS 5/12-803.   10. 625 ILCS 5/12-805.   11. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(b).   12. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(c).   13. 625 ILCS 5/11-1414(d).

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