Starting Friday, Jan. 1, a new state law in Georgia will tack on an additional $200 fee to any local fine received for a speeding conviction. The “Super Speeder Law” is aimed at “high-risk” drivers whose speed are deemed threats to fellow motorists.

Georgia averages one speed-related death a day, according to the official “Super Speeder” Web site.

“That makes speeding a habitual disaster just waiting to happen,” said Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Bob Dallas in a statement. “But it’s one of life’s bad habits that can and should be kicked.”
The added fine will be applied for any driver convicted of speeding at 75 mph or more on any two-lane road or 85 mph and over anywhere in the state.

Sheriff Richard King encourages motorists to drive safely.

“The best thing to do is to keep a watch on the speedometer,” he says. “If you watch your speed, you won’t have to worry about being a super speeder.”

Getting slapped with the new fee might feel like a double-whammy. A driver will get the initial speeding ticket from the local jurisdiction, only to receive a letter of notice for the state fine.

The state penalty must be paid within 90 days of the letter’s date. If a driver fails to pay the additional state fee, an additional $50 will be charged and the offender’s driving privileges and license can be suspended.

Fees collected through this new law are designed to pay for some of crash victims’ treatment. The funds could be used in the state’s trauma care hospital system, where approximately 60 percent of trauma patients are crash-related.

Final say of where the money is diverted is up to the state Legislature.

State safety officials hope the $200 “incentive” will remind more drivers to stick to posted speed limits and cut down risk for passengers and others.

Source: The Blackshear Times

First, check to see where you and your car have come to rest. If you are in a safe spot, free from the danger of being hit by other traffic, exit your vehicle and assess the situation. Is anyone injured? If people are hurt, tend to their injuries as best you know how, and call 911.

If no one is hurt, and damage to your car is relatively minor, move your vehicle out of the roadway to a safer location, so you don’t block traffic, and perhaps cause more wrecks. Now, you can exchange names, addresses, phone numbers, car license numbers, VIN numbers, insurance information, and driver’s license info. If, for some reason, you are concerned about the validity of the information you are getting from the other driver, don’t hesitate to call the police. Although a police report is not necessary to file insurance claims in most instances, it won’t hurt to get an official report written if something seems a little sketchy.

In addition, be sure to get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of any witnesses. Also, note the location of the crash, including the numbered address, and nearest cross streets. If the vehicles cannot be moved, protect the scene with flares or other devices, and open the hoods of both cars.

Here’s the law in Texas regarding what to do in the event of a crash:

If you are in a collision and no one is hurt, it is NOT necessary to wait for the police before moving your vehicle. If the vehicle can be driven, the law requires you to move it out of the flow of traffic.

If there is damage to the vehicle, Texas law requires you to stop and exchange information. If someone is hurt, you also must render aid and notify the police or sheriff. If you hit an unattended vehicle, the law requires you to find the driver or write your name and address on a note that explains what happened. (You also must include the owner’s name and address if the vehicle you are driving doesn’t belong to you.)

When to call the police

Always call the police when an injury or fatality is involved. The police should be notified :

• when the cars cannot be moved
• when one of the drivers is intoxicated
• when one of the drivers has no insurance
• when one of the drivers leaves the scene of the crash

When an accident report is necessary

Accident reports can be obtained from the police department and and should be filed with the Department of Public Safety within ten days. You are required to file a report under these circumstances:

• when there are injuries or a fatality
• when property damage exceeds $500
• When a driver is intoxicated, unlicensed, has no insurance, or attempts to leave the scene

Crashes aren’t accidents — They can be prevented.

Drive Safely!

A brand new red light camera on California’s historic Route 66 is already generating thousands in revenue for San Bernardino, but the biggest lawbreaker in these cases may turn out to be the city itself. Since September 25, a photo ticketing device has watched over the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and 9th Street, trapping motorists caught by a yellow light that is so short it violates state law.

Truck driver Raymond Chacon discovered this last month while taking a training course to help him upgrade his commercial driver’s license. Under the supervision of an instructor, he came to the intersection behind the wheel of a big-rig tractor trailer. He entered just a split-second after the light had turned red. After successfully completing the course and passing the Department of Motor Vehicles Class A license test “with flying colors,” Chacon received a $400 red light camera ticket in the mail. Chacon immediately began investigating what might have happened at that location. He turned to the highwayrobbery.net website, which encouraged him to check whether the city used yellow signal timing that conformed with state guidelines.

Video from the intersection in question confirms that drivers are given only 3.0 seconds of yellow, even though the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) insists that 35 MPH intersections have a yellow of no less than 3.6 seconds. While this 0.6 second shortage appears insignificant, it can represent the difference between a ticket and no ticket for thousands of motorists. This is even more true for truck drivers like Chacon.

Most drivers faced with a quick-changing yellow can simply slam on their brakes to avoid the citation. For Chacon’s 53-foot-long rig, however, the compressed-air braking system requires an extra 0.5 seconds to activate. Beyond the usual risk of causing a rear end collision in this situation, slamming the brakes with an unladen trailer risks jack-knifing the truck. With a properly timed signal, Chacon would have had enough time to clear the intersection.

Studies show that shorter yellow times can increase the number of citations generated. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, when the yellow light timing is one second shorter than the bare minimum recommended amount, violations increase by 110 percent (view study). Confidential documents uncovered in a San Diego court trial prove that the city and its private vendor, now Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), colluded to install red light cameras only at intersections with short yellow times, thereby maximizing profits.

San Bernardino may be aware of the importance of this signal timing. It is one of only a handful of cities across the country that deliberately conceals signal timing information — including the “time into red” or “late time” — on its citations. In 2002, a Baltimore, Maryland judge had used this information to find tickets issued at locations where the signal timing was illegally short. As a result of the judge’s investigation, Baltimore was forced to refund thousands in citation revenue (Read court memo). Chacon insists that San Bernardino similarly provide refunds from those caught by the illegal signal timing on Mount Vernon Avenue.

“It is a cash cow for a financially strapped San Bernardino city,” Chacon told TheNewspaper. “The fact that they knew the yellows were too short shows that public safety is not a sole concern for the red light cameras.”

Earlier this month, the National Motorists Association Foundation announced that it had begun a nationwide search to track down intersections with short yellow times and force cities to comply with proper engineering practices. Visit the Short Yellow Lights Project website.

Source: theNewspaper.com

Henry Raskin, 70, of Niles had been pulled over by a Buffalo Grove (Illinois) officer on the 400 block of Dundee Road around 11:30 a.m. Friday for driving 58 mph in a 35 mph zone, Sgt. Scott Kristiansen said. The officer wrote the ticket and returned to the car, and Raskin got ready to drive away. Except he went flying backward.

“(He) apparently was going to pull away at a high rate of speed, but the only problem was that he was in reverse,” Kristiansen said. He said Raskin was not happy about getting a ticket. He said police are reviewing the squad car videotape to see what Raskin might also be charged with.

Raskin was taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights as a precaution. Kristiansen said police don’t believe Raskin has any medical conditions that could have led to the crash. Raskin’s age also didn’t seem to play a factor, he said. The officer, a 20-year veteran of the Buffalo Grove department, was not injured, but his car will be out of service for a while. “He ended up with the left rear wheel of the car coming through his windshield, about 6 inches from his face,” Kristiansen said. “Luckily, he was not injured.” The squad car suffered significant damage to the front end, including the windshield and the hood.

Kristiansen said the police investigation so far shows the officer initiated the traffic stop properly. He said officers are trained to treat every stop as if it isn’t a routine procedure so that they are aware when unexpected circumstances like this one take place. “The officer stopped the car properly and positioned himself properly,” he said.

Jared Massey claimed in civil lawsuit filed in January that his civil rights were violated because Trooper Jon Gardner fired his taser before telling Massey he was under arrest. The confrontation was widely viewed on the internet after Massey obtained a copy of the video taken by the cruiser’s dashboard camera.

The video has been viewed on YouTube at least 1.7 million times and shows Gardner drawing his stun gun after the 28-year-old Massey refused to accept a speeding ticket and was ordered out of the vehicle.

Massey’s attorney, Bob Sykes, said he’s pleased with the settlement offer.

“They made what we consider to be a very fair offer of a significant amount of money,” he said.

The Highway Patrol said the trooper’s use of the taser was justified, but that his attitude was a problem. They put Gardner on administrative leave for a few weeks and said he received training in conflict resolution. Gardner was primarily put on leave for his own safety after state officials received numerous complaints.

Sykes said state attorneys offered to settle the lawsuit before ever officially responding to it, probably because of the video evidence.

“It’s pretty damaging,” he said. “The force used under these circumstances was nothing less than outrageous.”

The Utah Highway Patrol has declined to make Gardner available for comment.

As part of the settlement, the lawsuit against Gardner and potential claims against the Utah Highway Patrol, Utah Department of Public Safety and the state of Utah are being dismissed.

“We think this is a legally defensible case because Trooper Gardner acted reasonably to avert a volatile and potentially dangerous confrontation on the side of a busy highway. We recognize, however, that this is a close case,” Assistant Attorney General Scott Cheney, who represented Gardner, said in a statement.

The attorney general’s office said defending the lawsuit in court would have been a lengthy and expensive process and that settling was more cost-effective.

Massey paid a $107 fine to settle his ticket for speeding in a construction zone. He was stopped by Gardner on U.S. 40 near Vernal in eastern Utah on Sept. 14.

On Nov. 30, Gardner’s superiors cleared his use of the stun gun. They said Gardner felt threatened when Massey turned his back on the trooper and casually put a hand part-way in his pocket while stepping back toward his vehicle.

But officials also said the trooper could have explained to Massey that he risked being arrested for refusing to sign a speeding ticket.

The signature isn’t a legal requirement in Utah, but troopers make a practice of obtaining it as a motorist’s pledge to appear in court.

THIS is a reason you don’t want to get pulled over by police.

Yea, THIS is the town where I live!

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“On 28 April 2006, I was charged with obstruction (Section 444 PPRA2000) for holding a sign that reads “Police speed trap ahead”. I entered a plea of not guilty and the prosecution withdrew the date before the trial – presumably for fear of setting precedent. Just before withdrawing, the prosecution also offered a “guilty with no conviction” bargain, which I declined.

This activity is *not* illegal if you know how to execute it properly and within the law. I intend to provide this education after seeking further collaboration with law experts.”

A Utah Highway Patrol trooper tasered a man on the side of a freeway over a minor traffic ticket. Trooper John Gardner was running a speed trap on US 40 on September 14 when he pulled over the SUV driven by Jared Massey, 28.“You were going kinda fast,” Gardner said as he approached the SUV. Massey immediately asked the trooper to tell him how fast he was going. The trooper did not answer and, instead, told Massey to hand over his license and registration. Massey believed he had not reached the 40 MPH “work zone” sign when the trooper saw him and that the trooper never actually clocked his vehicle. Massey did not want to sign the ticket without more information from the trooper, so the trooper insisted Massey step out of the car.“Turn around and put your hands behind your back,” Trooper Gardner said as he immediately drew the taser on a stunned Massey. When Massey started to walk toward his car, Gardner fired while Massey’s pregnant wife watched.

“Officer you’re getting a little excited, you need to calm down,” Massey said after he was placed in handcuffs.When another police officer arrived on the scene to ask what happened, Gardner responded, “Oh, he took a ride on the taser.”“How was it?” the other officer asked.“Painful, isn’t it?” Gardner said.Before leaving, Gardner searched Massey’s vehicle. Massey will fight the citation on January 12 in Uintah County Justice Court.