Home

 
Hey Lead Foot...

By HOLLY OCASIO RIZZO
CTW Features

Friday, September 28, 2007

Facts about speeding gathered for the Court TV series 'Speeders':

- On the average traffic stop, a man is 5 percent more likely than a woman to get a ticket.

- More than half of high school boys say they've raced cars in the past year.

- Running late for work is the fifth-most common excuse for speeding.

- 13 percent of women try to argue their way out of a traffic ticket.

- Students are the most likely profession to cause an accident; doctors are the second most likely.

- Running on oversize tires can increase a vehicle's speed by 5 percent.

- 93 percent of motorists say they're distracted by music while driving.

- Speed radar guns are used by police in all 50 states.

Hey Lead Foot, here's news for you: The price of speeding just went up. And it goes beyond simply paying a fine; there are extra costs, such as higher insurance premiums and, for those who contest their tickets, the cost of hiring a lawyer and time lost by going to court.

Around the nation, it's getting more expensive than ever to rack up moving violations. States are tacking on big, fat civil penalties.

They're going after unpaid tickets, and they're giving back speed enforcement on state highways to local police.

What does it all mean? Only your speed-loving, law-violating heart can tell what it means for you. But here's the lowdown.

At the very least, more than one ticket can knock a driver off an insurance company's good-driver list. In California, good drivers get a 20 percent discount on their annual premiums.

In fact, according the NYC-based Insurance Information Institute, the better your record, the less you'll pay in premiums.

Getting just one $150 ticket can result in having to pay $300 more for insurance coverage over the next three years. Get enough tickets, and you'll buy your way into a so-called assigned risk pool, which is a system each state maintains to provide coverage for drivers who can't find it elsewhere — at substantially higher rates.

Now consider what else may be in store. Let's start with higher civil penalties. The increase accounts for inflation and funds a computer system linking courts throughout the state.

Be aware that you'll encounter more vigilant enforcement in smaller towns. Those dots on the map have forever been called speed traps, though they refer to themselves as being law-abiding communities. Law enforcement, civic leaders and government agencies say strict enforcement of the law is a deterrent to speeding that otherwise results in accidents, injuries and deaths.

According to the National Motorists Association in Waunakee, Wis., communities typically collect 5 percent to 10 percent of their revenue from fines, with big cities collecting even less.

And don't think you'll be able to get out of paying, either. Florida municipalities have turned to collections agencies to tell scofflaws to pay up. Florida allows collections agencies to tack 40 percent onto the fine, so the price of delinquency falls on violators, not taxpayers.

While a lighter wallet awaits drivers who get tickets, the overall payback is even greater. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, having more motorists who obey speed laws means there will be fewer accidents causing fewer injuries and fatalities.

— CTW Features