Thursday, April 19, 2012

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on The Criminalization of Speeding

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here on speeding still she wonders how fast is too fast?

From the Chicago Tribune (and yes, yours truly is quoted in the article):
 Julie Gorczynski was getting a ride after her shift at a suburban movie theater when a Mazda smashed into the passenger's side of her friend's Jeep, rolling the vehicle and killing the 17-year-old.
Orland Park police determined the Mazda was going at least 76 mph in a 40 mph zone, officials said. Behind the wheel was Lukasz Marszalek, a 21-year-old who still had his driving privileges despite a string of speeding violations. Courts repeatedly, and in some cases improperly, granted him a special probation, called court supervision, that kept his driving record clean enough to keep his license, a Tribune analysis shows.
 The June 2011 crash has sparked new legislation intended to curb who can get court supervision, barring anyone who is caught speeding by more than 25 mph on a nonrural road, or 30 mph on a highway, from getting the special probation.
If passed, it will be the third law in six years to restrict who is allowed to get court supervision. A Tribune investigation shows those previous laws have had limited success, however. While judges in Cook and the collar counties have reduced by half the number of improper supervisions issued each year, they are still incorrectly granting thousands, at an average of eight a day.
The most popular sentence for traffic offenders, supervisions allow governments to collect fees for traffic violations and drivers to avoid traffic convictions that can lead to increased insurance rates and, in the extreme, license suspensions.
 Do you think 25 miles over the speed limit is too fast?

1 comment:

  1. Speeding tickets can be high, but consequences for repeat offenders seem too lenient at times. Speeding kills just the same as any sort of reckless driving.

    Great blog!
    Thanks for the post!
    Ben

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome but please do not leave personal information or specific legal questions in the comment field. If you need legal assistance, the best way to get in touch with me is to call my office at 312.944.3973