Quote:
Originally Posted by Prestige593
MYTH #1 : Driving 25 miles over the posted speed limit IS NOT reckless driving according to Florida State Statute.
316.192 - 1)(a) Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.
No where does it state that excessive speed is reckless. If you received a citaion for reckless driving, and you were "ONLY" travelling 25 (+) M.P.H. over the posted speed than that citaion would be invalid. (example) If the excessive speed, accompanied with cutting around other vehicles, on wet roads, where pedestrians were present that is another story.
Speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. The economic cost to society of speeding-related crashes is estimated by NHTSA to be $40.4 BILLION per year. In 2005, speeding was a contributing factor in 30 percent of all fatal crashes, and 13,113 lives were lost in speeding-related crashes.
-NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
I have been a Police Officer for 12 yrs in a large city, I am not pulling this information out of my @ss. I do know that laser jammers are a waste of money and do NOT work. Remember in the late 80's early 90's the "Radar absorbing bra"? How short lived was that! And yes, HeelnToe you have to pay to play (and that goes for me too, yes there are cops who write other cops tickets out there). For the rest of you, If you get caught speeding then take your licks. My advice to you is not to argue w/ the officer (or worse Trooper), just accept the citaion and drive off. Trust me, you wont win the argument and may just piss him/her off to write more citations. Your best bet (at least in Broward county) is to hire a ticket attorney, or go to court yourself.
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I couldn't have said it better myself Prestige. I think you hit all the valid points regarding speed vs reckless driving.
SPEED IN AND OF ITSELF IS NOT RECKLESS DRIVING.
As an Officer of 10 years I can say that I have given reckless driving tickets for things such as donuts being spun in an intersection based on traffic and peds in the area, and have written 100-plus mph speeding tickets with not so much as a "please slow down" and off the driver went with no reckless driving charge. The only catch now is that the law is such that 30-plus over the limit is an automatic court date. The court date is
STILL AN INFRACTION, which means
NO CRIME (ie reckless driving is a CRIME). The court date is only to prevent the violator from simply paying or taking the online drivers course without the inconvenience of having to look remorseful in front of a judge. The law makers wanted the high speed violations to be troubled to loose time and physically appear in court. The fines and or punishments are the same. The judge can ding the driver a higher fine or even suspend the license a few weeks if the behavior keeps repeating itself.
I know I don't ticket until the driver hits 20 mph over the limit on major roads, and 15 in slower residential areas with pedestrians about. Some officers start at 15 over on major roads though, so keep it within 10 of the limit and 95% of the officers won't bother you.
If you do get stopped please don't insult the officer and say "Well gee officer, I really don't know why your stopping me" because then they feel that you might have to be reminded in a more permanent way if you were really that unaware of what you were doing. I have let many people off for simply appearing remorseful and willing to take the lumps. If I think that they truly are sorry then I feel the ticket is not necessary.
Believe it or not I am no hypocrite, and have actually managed to get both cars stopped when I see some silly behavior (ie red light to red light at 3am) and given a lecture and stopped at that. If the car runs then the one that stopped is home free and the runner is "game on" go straight to jail-do not pass go-do not collect $200.00!
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