Why Did Truck Driver Get $750 Ticket In Dixmoor, For Infraction That Code Says Carries Fine Of $100?
DIXMOOR, Ill. (CBS) -- The Village of Dixmoor wants a truck driver to pay a $750 fine.
The truck driver understands why he got the ticket, but he is questioning how they came up with that amount. CBS 2 sent Charlie De Mar to the south suburb to find out.
The Village of Dixmoor is currently updating its municipal code. But there has been no communication to the people who live there or happen to drive through what the updated fines are.
That has caused confusion.
Steve Martin said that the "no trucks allowed" signs in the plaza where he got a ticket do not provide sufficient warning.
"If you look at these signs, they should actually - they should have something facing this way, so in the view of any motorists, coming here, that they would know not to come this way," he said.
Martin was driving his large tractor-trailer through this plaza in Dixmoor earlier in the month. Martin didn't see the "no trucks allowed" signs until it was too late.
"You can't see it until you're right on it," he said.
He turned left toward a "no trucks" sign – the safest option. But a Dixmoor police officer pulled Martin over and wrote him a ticket
"That's a hard blow," Martin said.
The ticket was for $750. The violation was "trucks prohibited on a residential street," which 145th Street and Davis Avenue is.
"Then we found out on the municipal website – that ticket's $100, $150 if it's late," Martin said.
Martin is right. The same violation he was ticketed for is just $100, not $750.
The highest code infraction for the village is $500.
So just why was the longtime trucker hit with a ticket $650 more than the Dixmoor Municipal Code calls for?
"I think it's unethical, if not illegal," Martin said. "I think it needs to be questioned."
Online, the village said it is in the process of updating the code and everything is subject to change.
But a $650 increase is no small change.
"I thought it was outrageous from the beginning to the end," Martin said.
"It just doesn't look right, and a lot of companies and srivers are losing money at this rate unfairly and without someone questioning whats going on its going to continue
The police chief said he would need some more time to look into, but he pointed De Mar in the direction of the to the village clerk.
We've been trying to contact the village clerk for over a week now to get some clarity, but she hasn't returned a single phone call or email.