Speeding: Cause and Effect
Uploaded by zziegle on Nov 13, 2000
The popular movie "Top Gun" coined a phrase that reads "I feel the need, the need for speed." Many drivers today would agree with that phrase. Speeding is one of the most common ways that people break the law. When people break the law there are unpleasant consequences. A speeding ticket is an effective form of discipline: paying for a ticket, traffic school, and higher insurance rates. Paying for a speeding ticket is an unpleasant experience. A ticket can be outrageously expensive depending on how fast you were speeding. Some states charge ten to twenty dollars per mile an hour over the speed limit. The officer assigns you a day to appear in court, if you choose to fight the ticket rather than pay the fine. Waiting in the courtroom to see the judge can be very close to a death sentence. The wait is long, and the company can be frightening.
Once you plead your case, you generally end up paying the fine. This only leads to another line, and another wait. This has to be the most unpleasant part of a speeding ticket. In addition, paying for traffic school is also a disagreeable experience. If you waited to see the judge, you may be on your way after paying the fine. If the judge is kind, and offers a traffic school option, the unpleasantness continues.
Usually the traffic school is no where near to the courthouse, which causes you to search to find the it. The great experience of paying is close at hand after locating the school. You must endure the nine hour course after paying for the privilege of attending. This is a class most people would have never taken if given the chance. The unpleasantness associated with a speeding ticket is almost finished when you have completed the course. A reoccurring reminder of a previous mistake is evident in higher insurance rates. Most insurance companies feel that speeding tickets make someone a higher risk. So, to offset the risk they raise the premium. Which means it is more expensive to obtain insurance. If the insurance company decides to raise your rates by only ten dollars it can have a lasting effect. When the ticket falls off your driving the record, usually in three to five years, you have spent more than one thousand dollars more than if you had not been speeding. The insurance company...