“American Citizen Without A Seat Belt Ticket”

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I was sitting in traffic, and a cop pulled up on a bike and made me pull over for no seat belt. Being from Chicago, where there are so many worse things you could be doing (on the phone, texting, doing crossword puzzles while driving) I couldn't believe I got a $240 ticket. I was wondering if anyone knew what would happen if I didn't pay for this, since I was obviously guilty, there's no chance of fighting it. Will they actively pursue this, of does it just get lost in the paperwork?

Thanks,

Schmitty

As far as I know many states have agreements with ontario government so for example if I was caught speeding in illinios once convicted I would have dermit points show up on my licence here. In our system if you ignore the ticket you will be found guilty in your absence (unless there is a fatal flaw on the face of the ticket). However if I understand you corectly it is not an offence to not wear a seatbelt in your state? I dont know how or if it would affect your licence in illinois. However failing to pay the ticket I would think would cause you trouble at the border or if you get pulled over if and when you come back to canada.

BTW our traffic court system is much different than yours. Guilty or not, in most cases persons filing for a court trial are rewarded with plea deals. Basicly since they dont want you to waste the courts time the prosecutor will usually offer a lesser charge if you plead guilty and free up their time. Its something to think about.

Once a conviction is registered an Ontario driver's licence is generated (x-reference to your address and licence).

Failure to pay will result in the Ontario licence being suspended, therefore you will not have any licence once you enter the Province of Ontario. The Ontario generated licence trumps the Illinois one.

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HTA OREG607

Ontario does have a reciprocal agreement with Illinois for suspensions, fines and demerit points, which comes back to Ontario drivers stopped in Illinois.

- does this go the opposite direction? I don't know

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I have heard that the courts still require their payment and notify some collection agency in the USA, which would then affect credit ratings of people. Again this is what I have heard, don't know if true or not.

hwybear wrote:does this go the opposite direction? I don't know

Yes it does.

If you are from Illinois, if you just pay the fine, that is the end of the story. Ontario will not notify the Illinois DMV about it, so your insurance company won't find out, either. If you don't pay it, then they will notify the Illinois DMV. It's a way of ensuring the payment of the fine. The only states that have full reciprocity with Ontario are New York and Michigan. A Michigan driver convicted of a traffic offence in Ontario would have it show up on their Michigan driver record.

So... in your case... I'd suggest just paying it.