Chicago DUI Lawyer Comments on the Necessity of Slowing Down

This Chicago DUI Lawyer has commented here, here, and here on the criminalization of speeding.  I’m adamantly opposed to it.  I think it is a complete and utter waste of taxpayers time and of our precious and limited resources when it comes to prosecuting crimes throughout the state, but especially in the density of a major metropolis like Chicago.

Unfortunately, your state legislators often find these stories more compelling than a lot of the agenda items and Governor Quinn just signed another one.

From The Chicago Tribune:

Gov. Pat Quinn today signed four road safety measures into law including one that toughens penalties for extreme speeders and was inspired by a fatal car crash in southwest suburban Orland Park last summer.

Coined “Julie’s Law,” the legislation was written in response to a two-vehicle crash that killed  17-year-old Julie Gorczynski in June 2011 when a Mazda smashed into the passenger side of her friend’s Jeep. The 21-year-old Mazda driver, who had a history of speeding violations, was found to be traveling at least 76 mph in a 40 mph zone, police said.

The law, which takes effect July 1, 2013, bars judges from giving court supervision, a form of probation, to drivers found traveling more than 25 mph over the limit on a nonrural road or more than 30 mph on a highway. The previous law allowed the probation for drivers caught driving up to 40 mph over the limit.

I'm predicting that in the not-too-distant future driving 25 mph over the limit will result in a criminal charge.