Oh, I'm pretty sure we know that running lights&stop signs is illegal.

That's so true. Yet it's also true that the laws designed to protect our legal rights to ride on the roadways we help pay for aren't enforced either, and sometimes that's because the people paid to enforce the laws are ignorant of these laws.

No kidding.

I live and commute in Chicago too, and am personally very happy that some cops are actually enforcing the law (though I'm sorry it did happen to you). Standard biker mentality here in the city is that traffic laws do not apply to them, which gives all bikers a bad name and make the streets more dangerous for everybody. I hope this becomes the norm, and they can put all that extra revenue into road improvements.

BTW, I feel the same way about traffic violations. I see at least one car breaking the law every day and can count on one hand the number of times I've seen someone pulled over in over 2 years.

UPDATE: The cop told me it was just a $25 fine, and I could just send it in. However, after looking into how I have to deal with this and calling the city department that handles these citations, that's not the case at all, and the fine could be anywhere from $50-200. I have to actually show up for a hearing next month and then I'll find out. The kicker is that the fine used to be $25 but Mayor Rahmbo of course fixed that:

^ Yea i was gonna say how much is the surcharge?

I wonder how much Emanuel paid for this?

How do they determine the actual fine? That is incredibly vague.

I once got a jaywalking ticket in L.A. The face value of the ticket was something like $35. The actual amount I had to pay was around $280. Totally ridiculous.

fight it, it can't get any worse

Trackstanding start, you can make it at least halfway through an intersection in 1.5 seconds. And if the light is still red that's going to look like a pretty blatant RLJ.

Dang, I see a number of cars pulled over in my area every single week.

How does one fight an obvious RLJ to which he has already admitted to committing here in this thread? What would be the point of trying? To insult the judge's intelligence?

Add this to the end of your google searches:
And it should bring up predominantly BF stuff.

I have found that Judges don't really care what is right, wrong, or appropriate.

However, if the light is on a switch, and there is no reasonable way to reliably trigger the switch, and no cars sitting on the switch, then one might be able to fight the citation. Especially after ascertaining there is no cross traffic.

Also, one could argue that T-intersections into bike lanes, or perhaps right turns into bike lanes operate independent of traffic flow.

Except the location in question is 2 cross streets with center dividing lines on both streets, and traffic lights in all directions. OP was going west on W Madison and jumped the light at N Woods St.

Just a quick bit of Google Maps trolling using the info in the OP.

If he stopped and then did go with no traffic, or knew that the light would not change from detecting his bike, then yeah I suppose fighting it would be a possibility. Lots of time and hassle, though, plus more money probably if you lose.

Illinois has a law applying to motocyclists and bicyclists allowing them to proceed on a red light after waiting for 120 seconds. Also, the law does not apply in the city of Chicago.

Really? My commute is from River North, through Old Town and Lincoln Park.
(Are you in Chicago? See your tag says Memphis...my commute details may be irrelevant)

I lived in a small town. Part of my regular commute was a 4way stop at an intersection. On my way out, the road to the right is one way coming out, so there's no left to right cross traffic in that approach. Sight lines are immense, hundreds of feet in all directions, so I usually slowed for the intersection, but rarely stopped, and in some cases, just blew through it at speed.

One of the times I totally blew the stop, there was a car parked in a lot to the right, just before the intersection. As I go by, I have time to think, "Wait, was that a..." and then I'm through the intersection. So blatant.

Cop honked his horn to let me know he'd seen me, I acknowledged with a wave. No chase, no ticket. If I'd got one, I would have accepted it gracefully and paid the "I'm an idiot" tax...

Nah not in Chicago, just relating my experiences in Memphis and surrounding areas.

From what I could get out of the person at the department that handles these citations, the administrative hearing officer will determine the final amount at the hearing next month.

That's what they told Josef K.

the purpose to fighting a ticket is to win. he learned his lesson.

I fight all my tickets. haven't lost a case in 20 years. the last one took 14 months but it was dismissed

pay your tickets and rack up the points if you want to but you don't have to. again, you have nothing to lose.

Impressive. But isn't it easier to not get tickets in the first place?

I once had a coworker asking around about a good speed detector after getting like ticket number 3. I said, "Give me $200 and I'll tell you how to never get a speeding ticket again."

The punchline is "don't speed", right?

Only 14 months?

It took me a decade to get a dozen citations dismissed.

For the most part that is true.

But, there are cases of blatant police harassment where one has no choice but to fight the citations in court.

I got a 490$ ticket for going around the interesection and waving at a cop, stupid cops in california.

At least here there are number of potential responses to a ticket. You can send it in and pay the price as indicated. You can bring it to a representative of the court (not sure what they're called) who if you have an otherwise good record will cut a deal with you. In the case of a speeding ticket I got a few years ago, you'd either get a reduced fine or the option of keeping it off your record if you don't get ticketed again in the next 12 months. Note: They don't care what your excuse is.

Lastly you can take it to court and hope the police officer doesn't show up, and they often don't because it's not worth their time. If they don't, you're off the hook. You used to be able to plea "Guilty with explanation" and maybe the judge would cut you some slack. Don't know if you can do that anymore.

Chicago is probably completely different.

From the county's perspective (or whatever the jurisdiction is), it's pretty expensive to spend a court's time on a $200 ticket and I think ultimately that's why fighting them often results in favor of the person who got the ticket.

I'm glad that people have recourse to fight tickets that they shouldn't have gotten or when the fine is out of line with the offense and puts undo burden on someone with less income, but I do get a little angry when people take up the court's time (and our tax money) to fight a ticket they deserved and can easily pay.

oh of course, absolutely, during that 14 months I had to be real careful and watched my driving conscientiously. I still now have better driving habits because of it. fighting a ticket does the same as getting the ticket in the first place, if not more to curb bad driving. most ppl don't look for speed limit signs but I do. route 84 and 95 through NE and NY are notorious for jumping from 65 to 45 mph and so many ppl fly at 80+ regardless of any posted speed limits. I was caught going 71 in a 50 on 95 in the Bronx. me and kids were traveling from Boston area for wifey's uncle's memorial family gathering cuz he had just passed away suddenly. i was told a time to arrive and was on schedule and traveling at normal moderate speeds the whole way. wifey had gone down the day before and was already there when the early birds were arriving. we were the last to show up. she started texting my kids cuz she was freaking out as if we were disrespectful. so I slowly started driving faster and moved into the left lane simultaneous to the speed dropping to 50
I came around a bend the same speed as everyone else including a cement mixer but because I was in the left lane I got nailed. the NY cop also saw the Red Sox stickers and my kids and he was the most polite a-hole I ever met and said TWICE that driving in the STATE OF NEW YORK was a privilege. there would be no leniency regardless of my polite nature and explanation and apology. so anyway I tried fighting it by hiring a NY traffic attorney and eventually got it dismissed. I don't even know why!