Driving really fast to cost more starting Friday (Georgia)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | December 28, 2009 | Ariel Hart

[Colonel Kangaroo]

To those who feel the need to speed: Be warned. For the fastest of fast drivers, it’s about to get really expensive.

Going 85 miles per hour or more on most Georgia roads -- including interstates -- will cost a speeder an additional $200, when a new "super-speeder" law takes effect on Friday. On two-lane roads, meaning one lane each way, the extra fine kicks in at 75 mph.

That’s on top of whatever ticket the speeder gets for going over the speed limit.

“It’s a lifesaving law,” said Bob Dallas, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, noting that speeding makes death or severe injury much more likely when an accident happens.

The original speeding ticket may not tell the offender about the additional state fine, Dallas said. First, the driver will get the local ticket as usual. Then, the state will send a letter notifying the speeder of the $200 fine, which must be paid within 90 days of the letter's date.

“The goal here is to prevent the worst of the worst speeding in the state of Georgia,” Dallas said. “At some point we just have to put an end to the super-speeders and using our roadways as a racetrack. And this is what this law is designed to do.”

Drivers who don’t pay will have their licenses suspended.

The original ticket is no joke either. Local fines -- which range depending on where tickets are issued and the driver's speed -- are commonly well over $100.

In McIntosh County on Georgia's coast, going 34 mph over the speed limit will cost you $1,355, according to the county court clerk’s office. That’s before the new state fine.

At least one local official, Sheriff J. Tyson Stephens of Emanuel County, has called the $200 state fine little more than a tax that will impose an out-of-kilter burden on the working poor.

Dallas said he knew of no other state with a similar law, though some states had tried variations, such as higher fines on problem roads.

The law intended money collected from the fines to fund trauma services, but where it's actually spent will be up to the state Legislature.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

It may be just a tax, but it's one that's easily avoidable and in avoiding this tax by driving the speed limit, the citizen makes the highways a whole lot safer.

[Graybeard58]

Sheriff J. Tyson Stephens of Emanuel County, has called the $200 state fine little more than a tax that will impose an out-of-kilter burden on the working poor.

W.T.H. does that mean?

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

Georgia is one of the few places where I’ve seen county sheriff deputies doing radar on the Interstates.

They just see all those wallets driving thru and have to rake off some revenue.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

I’ve driven up the Alpharetta Autobahn (Ga. 400) before at 80 mph soley to KEEP UP with traffic and not CAUSE an accident due to going too slow. Even at that speed, people were blowin by me like I was standin still..

[ICE-FLYER]

“It’s a lifesaving law,” said Bob Dallas, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety

Liar! Just keep telling yourself this as the scum politicians make these "fines" for "safety" er...uh REVENUE. PERIOD.

Having lived in different countries where speed is higher I can tell you its NOT about SAFETY.

[nathanbedford]

“It’s a lifesaving law,”

As someone living mostly in Germany for nearly 20 years, I find this hard to swallow.

Not every part of the autobahns here are without speed limits but a good portion of them are. When a speed limit is posted I believe is respected far more than it is in the states.

I think the practice here in Germany is by far the superior one. It puts the emphasis on car and driver rather than on speed. My eldest son has just gotten his German driver's license and it cost us about $2000 and it cost him many many hours of study and many, many kilometers driving with an instructor to fulfill driving experience requirements. Believe me, the course is arduous and the milestones are demanding.

I have no doubt that the result produces a far superior driver on average in Germany than in the United States where the written tests are just silly and driving tests are perfunctory.

More, car inspections in Germany are very thorough indeed and the cars are on the road in Germany are on average simply safer than those we allow the roads in America. I was stopped last winter in a routine stop and police measured the thread in my tires and made me produce the safety vest, the emergency yield sign, and my medical kit. There are fines for being on the road without them. Everyone takes seriously the need to buckle up.

So when you see a Mercedes bearing down on you on the autobahn doing about 180 to 200 km an hour it is a good idea to stop picking your nose and move over to the right. It is a very bad idea to flip any other driver the bird, that might cost you a couple of thousand euros.

[The Sons of Liberty]

If you’re not doing AT LEAST 75 on the interstate, you’re inviting an 18 wheeler into you backseat.

[rahbert]

Hardeman County in West Texas is a notorious speedtrap.

All the towns on US 287 in TX are, esp Quanah.

[Richard Kimball]

“It’s a lifesaving law,” said Bob Dallas, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, noting that speeding makes death or severe injury much more likely when an accident happens.

Male bovine scatterology. Tax revenues are down. They need money.

[rarestia]

European-style driving tests and licensing laws in the US would dramatically reduce traffic fatalities among other things. The amount of time, effort, and most of all, money, are so great that NOT doing well is a waste of all of those things.

We wouldn’t have ADD-drug-addled kids text messaging while changing CDs and talking to their friends on a Bluetooth headset while driving. Look no further than roundabouts as an example. Give American’s straight lines and they can sort of get around. Throw in a roundabout and you’ve got a conglomeration of amateurs like a southerner on a New Jersey highway in a blizzard!

[Drea]

Many times I’ve seen motorcycle cops doing radar on the edge of the road of Atlanta I75 downtown traffic (Atlanta Braves stadium/Georgia Tech area).

And my first thought is always this — They must not be fond of their legs.

[Richard Kimball]

In central Texas, Bruceville-Eddy, Moody, McGregor and Riesel are speed traps. Bruceville-Eddy is the worst.

[Knitebane]

It may be just a tax, but it's one that's easily avoidable and in avoiding this tax by driving the speed limit, the citizen makes the highways a whole lot safer.

Source, please.

[Richard Kimball]

IIRC, Germany also has laws against eating, talking on a cell phone or anything else while driving.

Germany, though has around 82 million people in an area the size of Montana. Long distance driving isn't as necessary as here in the states.

[DoughtyOne]

If it were a speed trap, I’d agree with you, but the speed limit is posted throughout the state. It shouldn’t surprise anyone when they get pulled over and written up.

As for what those county sheriff deputies see, it’s a lot worse than a speeding car. It’s when that speeding car is dead still and all you hear is metal croaking, steam rising, and people still left in tact begging for help for themselves or another family member.

People need to be more patient, drive more carefully, and slow down. Getting there in one piece is more important than getting there 15 minutes earlier.

[relictele]

“It’s a lifesaving law,” said Bob Dallas, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety

Non sequitur as usual from those who stand to cash in.

If speed is dangerous then restrict cars from exceeding 70 mph via governor chips or mechanical devices. Ah but that would cut into the juicy profits.

As for those 'saints' who believe the speed limit is a panacea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoETMCosULQ

Speed limits are hardly scientific. Most people praising the speed limit and/or who believe it is the 'safe' speed for a road ignore the most basic tenets of traffic engineering that set the limit at the 85th percentile of all speeds traveled.

But those are engineers. Bureaucrats care not a whit about safety but fines levied by fatally-biased 'mayor's courts' and municipal judges are a nice little earner.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

I have no source except intuition and what I remember from physics class that kinetic energy equals mass times velocity squared. Cut down the velocity, and things are a lot safer for those in a collision. A couple of people on this thread have made good points about the safer faster drivers in countries such as Germany, but that does not apply here where greater speed is more often associated with impatience and/or drivers not giving themselves plenty of time to get where they're going on time.

[doodad]

W.T.H. does that mean?

Means he is a Democrat. And probably black.

[paul51]

It’s a lifesaving law

Sure it is. Thank god for our politicians. They're saving our lives /s

[Little Pig]

Having driven that particular route all the way from Dallas out through Dalhart north of Amarillo numerous times in the past year, I have yet to see a single speed trap. I do slow down through the towns along the way, but even so I would think I would still see the traps patrolling through or set up along the line.