Wanderer

Several may remember that I was the victim of road rage several months ago, in a downtown area.

A "Bike Cop" actually stopped and arrested the woman, after she crowded into my lane, she was blowing her horn at me (at a stoplight), then crowding me out of the lane (right side) when the light turned green.... A major mistake she made was to not notice the cop next to her...... She was ticketed for aggressive driving - and has to remember being run down by a bike cop, with lights and sirens.

After a couple postponements, at court, she finally had her day in court today. She was there with two lawyers (wonder how much that cost).... I was there, as was the arresting officer.

Right before court, she agreed to plead no contest, so I never got to testify (RATS).

The Judge accepted the plea, and fined her:





































$1,000.00

















plus $387.50 court costs.











a rather expensive lesson...................

GodsBassist

Haha, wow! That's really great. I'd imagine that if it had gone to trial she would have paid more than 1400 dollars. (If you live in the kind of place that does that kind of thing if found guilty)

ilmooz

That's a pretty steep fine. Combined with her attorney fees and other expenses she's probably on the hook for considerably more beyond that. I'm sure she'll think twice before acting recklessly again.

Square & Compas

Not likley. The most the law can do is hold people like this accountable, but they will not learn their lesson until they change their attitude, which can only happen through forced driver education for adults.

Perhaps the OP can elaborate on what kind of vehicle she was driving and what her attitude was in the court room, before, during and after. Yes a person's vehicle says a lot about them. Especially if they have high end vehicles. That usually indicates they have disposable income and could likley have a holier then though-get the F**k out of my way-I own the road type attitude. What this woman did clearly indicates that.

I kind of doubt she had any remorse or felt any guilt at all.

buzzman

nice. it's so much better than her getting away with this kind of BS. Hopefully, she'll never do that again.

Bekologist

is N. Aurora a suburb of Chicago? So strange to see an Illinois tag on this one. Am i totally out of touch with the bike friendlness of the midwest? I had a different impression...

crhilton

I wouldn't call it steep. I think it's pretty reasonable. I'm guessing that she has plenty of money (the two lawyers). If you were lower middle class or poor it'd be a steep fine (which would be good). But if you're wealthy the day in court is worse than losing a measly grand.

fordfasterr

good job!

Thanks for doing the right thing!

apricissimus 

Based on what exactly?

A&S clairvoyants strike again.

mconlonx

Bzzt. Forced driver ed is a joke. It is a purely punitive measure and both attendees and instructors treat it as such.

I'd rather see loss of license for stuff like this.

ilmooz

I neglected to consider that most of Aurora is in in Kendall County with a court system quite different than the lax Cook County traffic courts of which I'm familiar with. Comparatively speaking, I would consider a $1,000 fine for reckless driving steep by Cook County standards.

crackerdog

Again, it is amazing these people don't get a suspended license. It is obvious she is a hazard to others and probably not just bikes. Later when she causes serious physical damage everyone will shake their heads and wonder why this person is allowed to drive. If I take a gun and threaten someone would I only have to pay $1400?

Wanderer

Aurora is almost totally in Kane County, but location in the southeast corner of the county , takes in small parts of DuPage, Kendall, and Will counties. It is a city of about 200,000 people.

I live in North Aurora, which used to be about 4 miles north of Aurora city limits. We now touch, but are still separate cities. North Aurora has about 30,000 residents. I live about 40 miles west of Chicago, which is now solid suburbia until about 2 miles west of my house. North Aurora is actually older than Aurora, at about 175 years old. Aurora is about 150.

I'd have to say, that the area is basically pretty bike friendly - other than a few squirrels. We have a beautiful MUP system, which is very hand for getting around on bikes. Streets/people are pretty bike friendly but basically have no bike lanes. It is not usually a problem to ride a bike anywhere around here. Even downtown areas are usually pretty forgiving of bicyclists/pedestrians.

The Fox River Bike Trail connects almost all of the cities in the Fox River Valley (100 miles long), and is a great place to ride a bike. Occasionally, you have to venture out into downtown streets to reconnect back by the river. Other trails, mostly paved, branch out from this trail system, and I can even ride all the way to Chicago, 40 miles east, or Dekalb/Sycamore 40 miles west, Wisconsin 60 miles north, etc.

She appeared to be 25-30, nothing special, didn't appear wealthy or poor.

She was driving a smallish, 5 year old car, nothing special - On her first court appearance, one lawyer appeared with her, and asked for postponement. Second appearance, the other lawyer did the same thing.

On her third appearance (yesterday) both were present.

The only time I heard her speak, was when the Judge asked her if she agreed with the pre trial agreement, yesterday. All she said was, yes, your honor. She never looked around, and appeared scared/nervous evry time she was in court.....

The Police Officer, and I, were at all three court appearances, and were always pointed out to the lawyers by the States Attorney...... She was charged with reckless driving, aggressive driving, and improper lane usage. The States Attorney agreed to the plea deal, because the aggressive driving carried the biggest fine, and will remain on her driving record forever.....

ilmooz

Whoops. I thought it was Kendall County.

It's good that you made all the court appearances. She probably intended to postpone in the hope that you would not show up, then she would demand a trial. Without your testimony the judge would either postpone it again or dismiss the case. Lots of cases are dismissed that way in Cook County traffic court.

dwilbur3

In a way I feel sorry for her, she did something stupid on the spur of the moment and now it's on her permanent record.

But mostly, I feel she got exactly what she deserved. She might have killed the OP!

longbeachgary

That's a great victory.

longbeachgary

You're joking rigtht? You can't feel sorry for someone who breaks that law and tries to run someone over just because she may have had to slow down for a fraction of a second or move over in the lane. It's not a spur of the moment when she had several chances to let it go but she just kept on. She could have killed the OP and gone to jail for many years or the OP could have caught her and rightfully beat her to a pulp.

genec

Sure it was stupid and spur of the moment... but that is all it takes to kill a cyclist... just a quick nudge by an impatient motorist... and blamo, you are face down skidding across pavement.

Patience has to be part of the whole driving experience... PERIOD! Especially today, with cars that readily can go 0-60 in 8 seconds or less.

unterhausen

Maybe she did learn her lesson. I have done some stupid things while driving in the past and now I control myself more.

I probably posted this in the original thread, but I had a similar thing happen when I was driving my car. I managed to anger another driver, and he tried to force me onto the sidewalk. The problem for him was the car behind me was a cop. I guess it's too hard to stop both vehicles in that case and get the aggrieved party as a witness. On a bike it's pretty natural.

dwilbur3

Did either of you read this part?

Camilo

Yea, and the color of their skin says a lot about them too. Do you realize how bigoted and silly you sound?

unterhausen

in which case she didn't really get a strong enough sentence. But since traffic "accidents" are an accepted way to kill people in this country, this is probably the most just outcome anyone could expect absent any injury to the OP.

GodsBassist

If that's true, her insurance rates over a lifetime might make the 1400 pale in comparison.

dogbreathpnw

The $24 question is what was she thinking? Did she really think she was behaving appropriately? I know, this is the part that will never be answered, but you just gotta wonder.

Tape2011

+1. I drive a pickup, I suppose that makes me a redneck racist....