$275 dollar speeding ticket

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I was coming home from the Johnson Creek Outlet mall with the family on Sunday and got nailed by a State Trooper. I was doing 72 mph. Unfortunately, in an area where the sped limit drops to 55 for a tad unitl going back up to 65. Most highways are 65 mph down here IL. But whatever. I will man up to the ticket. I was speeding after all. But the freakng fine is a whopping $275! Now, this was a big highway. In some States that is below the Speed limit on major thoroughfares. And in most states that I have driven in, that is a VERY high amount for a speeding ticket on a hgihway. Considering my ticket wasn't deemed as reckless, I am pretty peeved about the high dollar amount. The last ticket I rec'd was about 5 years ago, a Statey got me going 84 mph in a 65 zone on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. that ticket was only $96.00.

Lessons learned....

1) Stay the H*** out of Wisconsin!
2) If you must go to WI, let the wifey drive.
3) Now I know why the public can afford an NFL franchise in WI, they have no need for tax dollars with their State Police gathering all the loot they could need, those thieving bastards!

 

Ouch. I may have mentioned that I have a friend who is a MA state trooper. He always gets really pissed when I call him a "revenue officer" or "revenue trooper" instead. We have towns in our surrounding area that must really depend on the ticket money as they are almost impossible to drive in.

 

Did you have points on your record? The fine amount can vary a lot depending on points and what violation range they actually write you for. If the PA guy happened to write you for only 5 over because you didn't have any other violations, the WI guy might not be so nice. 17 over is in another fine range.

 

It seems high from a statey. I know a bunch of local municpalities that have ridiculous fines for speeding, but they look at that as a revenue source. (Officers in small municipalities basically have to cover thier salaries with tickets.)

 

No. Any I had in PA from my younging days have went away with time. They don't issue points for out-of-state drivers as far as I know.

The PA guy didn't give me a break. PA was just that much lower on the dollar amount. From what I understand, WI doubled the cost of their tickets a couple of years ago. This was my first xp with the state of WI. No wonder everyone in WI drives at snail speed. I have been in the midwest for 5 years now. I still can't adjust. I am a go, go, go type of person. Out here it's slow, slow, slow...

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LMAO! He must love talking to you...

 

Why are people so upset at speeding and parking tickets but generally scream for harsher penalties for crimes they do not commit?

 

Surely lesson #1 should be to stay within the speed limits...

 

Especially when they are doing mandatory stoppage for DUI, holding up the rest of us who are jsut coming home from the grocery store and speed trapping. Having 6-10 different squad cars in a 5 mile radius is not what I call policing the roads. It is fund-raising all the way.

 

That's the thing. I have an issue with speed limits. Some of us can handle our vehicles better than others. They determine the limits based on the weakest drivers to make everyone as safe as possible. Nameley teenagers(new drivers), the elderly(senial drivers) and the rst of the inept lot. That sucks for those of us who can actually handle a vehicle. Those of us that can make a split second decision while driving. Also they are VERY incosistent on how the determine the limits. Two states with regions with the same demographics and geographics can have a major disparity on the speed limit of a 4-6 lane highway. It's laughable.


Now for my griping....


Don't get me wrong, I know we are still supposed to drive the limit or face the consequences. But is a little consistency too much to ask for? Also, you only live once. I for one enjoy driving, especially on long trips in the country with the top down and the wind blowing while driving a nice, smooth 65 mph is sweet riding. I want to enjoy these pleasures. Not have to keep constant lookout for said statey hding on theside of the road, waiting to pounce and fundraise.

 

Weird, 275 for 10-ish MPH over the limit seems a bit much. What are the usual fines for other states?

Here iirc the fine if you go over the limit with up to 10 KMH is fairly low - 20 lv, which would be around 15 USD (keep in mind the average wage is a lot lower though); then it's 50 if you are speeding with 11-20 KMH over the limit, 100 for 21-30 over, 150 for 31-40, 200 for 41-50, and 300 + a "premium" for every 5 KMH more if you are speeding with over 50 over the limit, plus you get your license taken for several months. Those are if you are outside city boundaries, for speeding inside the city limits they are a bit higher. In reality,though, if you are speeding with 5-6 KMH over the limit you are ok more often than not.

BTW, you also lose some points, and if you lose enough your license is revoked and you need to take a driver's course again so you can get them back. It sounds like a way to keep the companies offering drivers' courses afloat... and it may well be.

 

If the PA 84 in a 65 incident was 5 years ago, it most likely would still be on your record. And points do tend to jump states via the LEIN (and even if they don't, the infractions themselves do), so I suspect that the 'repeat offender' qualifier came into play in WI. Did the ticket say 72 in a 55?

Anyway, watch out - you may be getting a 'driver improvement letter' or some such thing in the mail shortly from your local DMV/SOS.

 

Almost everyone considers themselves as better than average drivers, that is why I find Blades' latest post fairly amusing. I get the feeling that you would check all the boxes of a high risk driver but that's just a feeling.

Parking rules and speeding rules are there whether you believe it or not to keep things workable for everyone.

 

I must agree with joacqin here. Most of us think that driving skill wise we are just a little behind Andretti but the stats don't bear that out.

 

Gotta agree with Joacquin here. The law is pretty clear. Don't speed and you won't have any issue with tickets.

 

The problem that people have with the speedling laws is that in almost all of the cases they just don't make any sense and are too low. We take exception to the fact that they are clearly there for revenue production as opposed to the "fake" reason of public safety. If public safety was the real reason there would be governors in the car that would limit the top speed.

 

That's a common attitude and is basically based in the "I'm a better than average driver" mentality most of us have. Driver statistics do show a direct correlation between safety and speed. In addition, there is a direct correlation on the 'amount of money spent cleaning up the mess' versus speed as well. It's certainly worthwhile for a community to keep the speed limits down in order to lower emergency response and cleanup expenses.

That said, I know along the route I drive the police do not ticket until ~15 mph over the speed limit so I routinely drive at 10 mph over -- but then I'm a better than average driver.

 

Google Atco raceway in New Jersey. I use to run their in my younger days. Also tried some some modified stock and other ventures in PA. All thru the father of a friend. I don't have Andretti's xp, but I have more than your avg Joacqin, hence my disdain for some of the pathetic driving laws.