Re:Be Safe, Break the Law
by thefreehunter on Thursday September 22, 2011 @10:36PM
(#3028620)
My biggest problem isn't with paying the fine (for example, associated with speeding), it's with the other penalties that come with it. If it was just a fine, I would pay it and be done. I fight every ticket I've gotten because of the increase of the cost of insurance that is associated with it. I got a ticket for 75 in a 70 on the freeway, ticket was $137 (the judge upheld the ticket...), no points but I still got an increase of $30/mo on my insurance for the next 2 years. That's much more than the cost of the ticket.
As for the other point you make, in my state (Michigan), the courts ruled that jurisdictions need to provide a good case for having the speed limit lower than the standard. As soon as that ruling went into effect, most all the streets in town raised their limit to 45mph.
It seems to me that jurisdictions should be able to provide a good reason for having the speed limit at all. "It's the 85th percentile speed" is a good reason but simply being "standard" doesn't seem like one to me.
I agree, money from ticketing should go to some other use than directly to the police in the locality where the ticket was given. Hell it should go to education or something useful like that. Or to a general fund that is redistributed based on size to all police forces in a state. (obviously that isn't perfect either, that could lead to over hiring)
Yes, but it isn't ethical or good for society to do so by making a law just so that people will break it and get fined. Tying police pay to enforcement actions at any level will result in overzealous enforcement instead of the objectivity we should want from our police.
You're also implying that raising the speed limit in the case being discussed would lead to a higher rate of crashes or injuries but you haven't provided any evidence for that claim. The author did provide evidence showing the opposite.