A stop sign ticket in Illinois costs $164 if you pay by mail or online without going to court, and $226 or more if you appear before a judge.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 705 ILCS 135/15-60 The ticket price is only part of the real cost, though. A conviction adds 20 points to your driving record and typically raises your auto insurance for about three years. Court supervision, if you qualify and ask for it, can keep the conviction off your record and spare you the insurance hit.
The $164 Mail-In or Online Price
Illinois Supreme Court Rule 529 lets you plead guilty to minor traffic offenses by mail or online and pay a flat $164. That number covers the fine, court costs, and every surcharge rolled together.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 705 ILCS 135/15-60 Nothing else can be added when you use this process. If you simply want the ticket paid and done, $164 is the total.
The $226 Price If You Go to Court
Walking into a courtroom changes the math. The court collects under Schedule 10 of the Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act instead of Schedule 12, and the base assessment is $226.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 705 ILCS 135 – Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act, Full Text In Cook County, the county board can add up to $28 for court system operations, bringing the total to $254.
Judges also have discretion to impose a fine on top of the assessment. For a petty offense, fines run from $25 to $1,000. A maximum fine is unlikely for a routine stop sign ticket, but a judge may push the number higher if the violation caused a crash or endangered pedestrians.
Court Supervision and Why It Matters
The most important choice you make on a stop sign ticket often has little to do with the sticker price. It’s whether you ask for court supervision.
Supervision is a disposition where you pay the fine and sometimes complete a traffic safety program, then sit under the court’s jurisdiction for a set period, typically four months. If you stay out of trouble during that window, the case is dismissed and no conviction is entered.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3.1 Insurance companies can’t use a dismissed supervision case to raise your rates, and it doesn’t count toward the conviction totals that trigger a license suspension.
In many counties, you can request supervision through the same written plea process used for the $164 mail-in payment. Under Rule 529(b), designated counties let you pay the $164 and agree to complete a court-approved traffic safety program. Finish the program on time and supervision terminates successfully. Miss the deadline for filing proof of completion and supervision is revoked, with a conviction entered automatically. The traffic safety program fee is on top of the $164 and generally runs $20 to $50.
Supervision is available for most fine-only traffic violations. A few are excluded, including speeding in a school or construction zone, passing a stopped school bus, and a second offense of driving without insurance.4Circuit Court of Cook County. Court Supervision A standard stop sign violation isn’t on the excluded list, so supervision is almost always on the table if you haven’t recently used up your eligibility.
What the Ticket Does to Your Insurance
A stop sign conviction is a moving violation, and insurers price it that way. You can expect your premium to rise at renewal, with the surcharge typically lasting about three years from the conviction date. The exact increase depends on your insurer, your prior history, and your coverage, but a jump of 20% or more is common for a single moving violation. On a $2,000 annual policy, that’s at least $400 extra per year, repeated across the rating period.
This is where supervision pays for itself several times over. Because a supervised disposition isn’t reported as a conviction, it generally won’t trigger a rate increase. The $164 plus a traffic safety course is a much cheaper outcome than three years of higher premiums.
Points, Your Driving Record, and Suspension Risk
A conviction for running a stop sign adds 20 points to your record with the Illinois Secretary of State. That’s on the higher end for minor traffic offenses.5Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 92, Part 1040
The suspension thresholds depend on your age:
- If you’re 21 or older, three or more moving violation convictions in any 12-month period can trigger a suspension or revocation, depending on point totals and overall history.
- If you’re under 21, two or more convictions in any 24-month period can trigger a suspension or revocation under the same point-based analysis.
One stop sign ticket won’t suspend your license on its own. But if you already have a recent conviction, a stop sign ticket puts an under-21 driver at the threshold and an adult driver two-thirds of the way there.6Illinois Secretary of State. Illinois Traffic Offenses A supervised disposition doesn’t count as a conviction for this purpose, which is another reason to ask for supervision when you can.
Repeat Tickets Can Become a Misdemeanor
A first or second stop sign ticket is a petty offense. A third or subsequent conviction within one year of the first is a Class C misdemeanor, which can carry up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,500.7Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 625 ILCS 5/16-104 That’s a steep jump from a $164 ticket, and you pick up a criminal record along with it.
One thing not to assume: school zone and construction zone enhancements don’t bump up a stop sign fine the way they do for speeding. Those enhanced minimum fines apply specifically to speed limit violations under 625 ILCS 5/11-605 and 11-605.1.8Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 625 ILCS 5/11-605 A stop sign violation near a school still carries the standard penalty, though a judge could weigh the location if you go to court.
If You Have an Out-of-State License
Crossing the border doesn’t end an Illinois ticket. Illinois belongs to the Driver License Compact and reports your conviction to your home state’s licensing authority. Your home state then applies its own rules, which may mean points, surcharges, or suspension exposure under a different system.9Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 625 ILCS 5/6-703 Ignoring the ticket is the worst option. If you don’t resolve it, Illinois can notify your home state, which may suspend your license until you do.
How to Pay or Contest the Ticket
Start with the ticket itself. The citation number is in the upper portion of the document, and the ticket identifies the Circuit Court with jurisdiction. You need both regardless of how you handle it.
By Mail
Sign the guilty plea section on the back of the ticket. If you want supervision and your county allows it through the mail-in process, look for a separate supervision request form, which some counties include with the citation or post on the circuit clerk’s website. Mail the signed ticket with a check or money order payable to the Clerk of the Circuit Court, and keep a copy.
Online
Many Illinois counties offer online payment through the circuit clerk’s website. You’ll usually need the court location, your ticket or case number, and the exact amount listed on the citation.10Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. E-Plea/E-Pay for Court Diversion Credit and debit cards are generally accepted. Some portals charge a small convenience fee. Save the confirmation; the clerk reports the disposition to the Secretary of State, which updates your record.
Contesting It
If you believe the ticket was wrong, you can appear and plead not guilty on the date printed on the citation. Contesting means paying the higher Schedule 10 assessment of $226 or more if you’re found guilty, instead of the $164 written plea price. If the officer doesn’t appear or the evidence falls short, the case is dismissed and you owe nothing.