stop sign traffic ticket pleading not guily

[mark23]

I recieved my first ticket yesterday in illinois.
Code: 625 ILCS 5/11-1204(b)
Rule: Disobeyed stop sign
My options are:
1) plead guily $75,
2) no points, guilty, traffic school $105
3) not guilty and have a court hearing

I am planning on pleading not guilty and requesting a continuance.
How many times can I request a continuance and is it a good idea to delay the court date as long as possible?
I am hoping the police officer will not show up and I can motion to dismiss due to lack of a prosecution witness. If the officer does show up I am planning to cross examine him, possibly trying to motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdictional fact.
Can someone tell me if at the end of my argument, if I can still ask request traffic school/supervision since this is only an infraction and I have a clean driving record? I was wondering if I can attempt to fight the ticket and if things don't go well, ask the judge for traffic school. Will I have to pay more money than if I had taken traffic school from the beginning?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[mark23]

also, is it better not to delay the trial hoping that i do not have a speedy trial and thus can get the case dismissed

 

[nhutch77]

How'd it all work out for you?

 

[mark23]

First I objected to independent recollection which woke up the judge (Cop was reading from the ticket). No one has made an objection before me. I made a few more objections here and there.

I guess the judge liked me since I was the only one not guilty one. Most of the other people who pleaded not guilty got court supervision if their story sounded plausible.

It depends a lot on the judge more than how well you prepare your case.

 

[nhutch77]

Thanks for replying.

That's was my thinking too about the Judge, because if the cop does show it's basically their word against yours and the judge is more likely to side with the cop.

I've already requested any information from the police department under the Freedom of Information Act to see if he wrote anything up on it, but he made a point of stating that everything could be done through the mail.

On the day I was late picking up my son from school instead of my wife (who was sick) and I took the shortcut through a subdivision which I've taken maybe a handful of times at most, could probably count them all on one hand. Instead of stopping completely, I slowed, did not see any pedestrians or vehicles anywhere (including behind me) so just switched from brake to gas right away. I only say the cop after I was in the intersection. I took some pictures of the scene and he really didn't have the best of views, partially obsured by a stone column, raised ground and trees.

What was your story or that of anyone else's that you heard similar in any way?

 

[mark23]

I didn't really say anything regarding the incident when it was my turn to talk. I mentioned that I was a responsibly driver and I have a clean record.

Here's the information that I researched:

ALL SIGNS MOST ADHERE TO MUTCD

what is mutcd? this is a federal code that all states have adopted that regulate the placement of signs (type, size, location, etc.)

this is done to prevent states/cities from putting sign where ever they want to
before a sign can be put up there has to be an engineering study done plus a lot of other things...

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part2/part2b1.htm
Section 2B.01 Application of Regulatory Signs
Section 2B.02 Design of Regulatory Signs
Section 2B.03 Size of Regulatory Signs
Section 2B.04 STOP Sign (R1-1)
Section 2B.05 STOP Sign Applications
Section 2B.06 STOP Sign Placement

There is a lot of criteria that must be met as you can see.
I was gonna argue this but never got around to finding the study:
"The decision to install multiway stop control should be based on an engineering study."


if you can prove that the sign does not adhere to the standards mentions, or that there was no engineering study done, then you will be found not guilty most likely

so if the judge gets mad at you for wasting his time and finds you guilty you have very good grounds for an appeal since the mutcd is federal law

Ariel photo
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/default.aspx

applies to speeding tickets mostly but very good information:

http://www.geocities.com/speeding@sbcglobal.net/Discovery.html

http://public.findlaw.com/traffic_violations/nolo/ency/80467AB3-5593-4870-B1E8D03B68E2C29E.html

http://www.speedingticketcentral.com/speeding-ticket-FAQ.html