I doubt that the answer varies much by state. In Illinois a traffic ticket of any kind is also a summons to appear in traffic court (unless you are an out of state driver, then you can just plead guilty and pay the fine by mail). So you will go to court which you will find to be a complete kangaroo court where you will be convicted and fined. If you have a valid driver's license I am quite sure that the points will be assessed against your driver's license and your auto insurance company will be notified. If you have no driver's license then those sticks cannot be used to beat you. Now generally in Illinois you would have the opportunity to plead guilty in return for a "supervision" that will generally last 6 months to a year. If you complete the supervision period without another violation you get no points and your insurance company is not notified. As part of the supervision you will be required to attend a remedial drivers education course which generally is a one evening classroom session that you will pay upwards of $100 for in addition to the the fine which is probably going to be $75 plus "court fees" which are generally $25. So you are looking at around $200 and I doubt the fact that you are a cyclist will save you from any of this since you are expected to obey the same laws as a motorist and have been convicted of failure to do so. If that strikes you as "meaningless" then yeah, try getting a ticket every day!

Oh, I see, you want to "ignore" the ticket. If you fail to appear in court Officer Friendly will pay you a visit at your home a day or two later and he will not be in a good mood. I'd guess you would double the above costs and multiply the inconvenience factor by 10 if you tried that stunt.

Now, while I do not suggest that you treat a traffic citation as a meaningless trifle to be ignored, I do have to respect anyone who manages to get a speeding ticket on a bike as long as it is done at a time and location where others are not endangered. Shame on you if you blow through a school speed zone. Kudos to you if you manage to break a 30 mph limit on flat ground away from pedestrian congestion! If you do the crime, be prepared to pay the fine, and then hang the framed court papers on your wall as a badge of honor. I believe that local cyclists have told me there is a downhill stretch of county road leading into Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where the local officers of the law have apprehended speeding cyclists. It is steep enough and the speed limit is low enough that it is not difficult for a cyclist to go fast enough to draw the attention of the blue lights. I don't know if that is just a story people tell or if there have been actual tickets issued to cyclists. I suspect the story has some basis in fact even if it is only one cyclist and one ticket. In most cases I think the police are unlikely to even put the radar gun on you and if you are over the limit you are unlikely to be far enough over the limit to prod them into action unless the novelty of the thing just appeals to them.

Ken