Failure to Yield Ticket in Illinois

The traffic attorneys at The Davis Law Group, P.C. frequently represent clients ticketed for a variety of failure to yield violations. In Illinois, this type of violation is governed by Illinois law 625 ILCS 5/ Chap.11 Article IX, which covers “right-of-way”. The full text of the law is available on the Illinois General Assembly website.

Two of the most common failure to yield tickets issued to drivers in Illinois involve vehicles entering an area with a stop sign or an intersection where they are required to yield (covered by 625 ILCS 5/11-904), as well as failure to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians at crosswalks (covered by 625 ILCS 5/11-1002).

There are several other failure to yield violations under 625 ILCS 5/11 that may be issued by police officers throughout Illinois, including the following:

• Vehicles approaching or entering intersection (625 ILCS 5/11-901).
• Vehicles approaching or entering a "T" intersection (625 ILCS 5/11-901.01).
• Vehicle turning left (625 ILCS 5/11-902).
• Vehicles entering stop crosswalk (625 ILCS 5/11-903).
• Vehicle entering stop or yield intersection (625 ILCS 5/11-904).
• Merging traffic (625 ILCS 5/11-905).
• Vehicle entering highway from a private road or driveway (625 ILCS 5/11-906).
• Operation of vehicles and streetcars on approach of authorized emergency vehicles (625 ILCS 5/11-907).
• Approaching disabled vehicles (625 ILCS 5/11-907.5).
• Vehicle approaching or entering a highway construction or maintenance area or zone (625 ILCS 5/11-908).

Other failure to yield tickets include:

• Failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign (including failure to complete a full stop - so called “rolling stop” infraction.
• Failure to yield to traffic at a flashing red or yellow light.
• Failure to yield to avoid an accident.
• Failure to yield to another vehicle in front of you.
• Failure to yield to a funeral procession.
• Failure to yield to children in a designated school zone (or in the vicinity of a parked school bus).
• Failure to yield to a bicyclist (when the person riding their bike has a right-of-way).
• Failure to yield to a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus.

Failure to yield tickets are often issued after a police officer determines fault for a traffic accident. In these situations, the strategy in court may differ than in other scenarios. Under certain circumstances, your defense attorney may be able to challenge the ticket based on the lack of a civilian witness or when the officer only arrived after the accident took place.

However, it is important to remember that failure to yield tickets are not exclusively issued following traffic accidents. If a police officer observes a driver failing to yield to another vehicle (or a pedestrian or a bicyclist) or otherwise not yielding the right-of-way, they may still ticket the driver.

Most of the traffic tickets issued for the violations listed above are considered petty offenses - not criminal offenses and are counted as moving violations by the Illinois Secretary of State. However, some of these offenses are treated more seriously than others and, in addition to high fines and court costs, may count as a strike against your driving privileges and cause insurance rate increases. Paying a failure to yield ticket will result in the entry of a conviction on your driving record.

Additionally, if you have already had previous tickets and convictions on your driving record, a conviction may result in a driver’s license suspension for even a minor offense. In fact, for certain cases involving death or personal injury, a single conviction for failure to yield may result in the loss of driving privileges. For example, if you are convicted for Failure to Yield upon Entering a Construction or Maintenance Zone when Workers Are Present that resulted in property damage, injury or death ((11-908(a-1)), your license will be suspended. To learn more about the possible ramifications, please refer to the article posted on our Chicago Traffic Ticket and DUI Attorney Blog entitled Illinois Driver’s License Point System.

If you have been charged with a failure to yield violation, including failing to yield to oncoming traffic or failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, contact the Chicago Area traffic ticket defense attorneys at The Davis Law Group, P.C. to discuss your case. A traffic ticket defense lawyer can ensure that you receive the best possible result in court. Call us at (847) 390-8500 or submit your information using the contact request form on our Contact Us page.

The traffic ticket lawyers at our law firm practice traffic ticket defense and criminal defense throughout Illinois including Cook County, Lake County, and DuPage County.