Son got a speed ticket

Renonvme

I got a ticket for speeding when I was 16. Where I live, you have to go to juvenile court if you get a ticket under the age of 18. I had to find 10 articles relating to car accidents, read them and write a summary. It was a good lesson. At that age you don't realize how dangerous cars can be. Maybe that would be a wake up call for him....it was for me.

jstrohs1

I made my son go to a driving class to get the points off his record and pay the ticket!
He's young and works part time at a local supermarket......so paying that fine really hurt him!
But now he thinks twice before putting the pedal to the floor.

badgerbadger1

It's not a mistake. It's a choice. Choices have consequences. The consequences of speeding are not an oops, they can cost someone their life.

The "mistake" made was "choosing" to speed. I realize speeding can lead to accidents and lost lives. I wasn't minimizing the effects speeding can have.

Kids need consequences or they grow up thinking the rules don't apply to them.

I never said kids shouldn't have consequences for their actions. I gave my personal opinion about the consequence the OP was asking about. My children have not grown up thinking rules don't apply to them.

I wasn't insinuating you were a bad parent. We'll just have to agree to disagree on what a mistake is. To me, a mistake is forgetting to carry the one on a math question or cooking something for a few minutes too long. Speeding to me is not a mistake. That implies a lack of responsibility for the choice they made and being shocked at the results. I suspect this boils down to semantics.

jaks97

This happened to my son when he was 17. Driving home from summer school him and a friend racing the cop pulled him over gave him a ticket, he called me I told him call his dad. His dad said put the keys on my bed, we will talk about this. We took away his keys, when he had to go to court the judge sent him to a day of driving school at the local Hiway patrol where they train the policemen. He had to pay for it himself.

athensguy

I'm of the opinion that speeding tickets are really just an insidious tax without representation because speed limits are rarely if ever set to an appropriate level. There really is no appropriate level since that would have to take into account driver ability, conditions, and car performance. That said, I drive slowly (9mph over the speed limit in GA) all the time because I don't want to pay that tax I have no say in.

I was caught speeding and did a speed awareness course.

You need to do one of these, Sir.

Congratulations on your course.

Of course, it's simple to conflate speeding with driving too fast for conditions. That's done with almost everyone that jumps up to defend speeding tickets.

There is no legitimate evidence showing that speed limits improve safety. There is, however, significant evidence that police forces around the world thrive on writing speeding tickets and building speed traps to inflate their budgets.

I mentioned that I stay under the threshold of likely speeding tickets at all times. That's really just a hidden tax on me, and it increases my exposure to car accidents by keeping me on the road longer than I should have been there.

Regardless, my point is that people should be taught that speed limits are not there to help you, but unless you're interested in subsidizing more traffic enforcement, then you should pay attention to the traffic laws in your jurisdiction in order to avoid having to pay fines. I don't drive like I do because it's safer or because I think the rules are legitimate. I drive like I do in order to avoid being ticketed, and the additional risk undertaken is likely smaller than the speeding fines I would have to pay if I drove a more reasonable speed.

the_journeyman

Lots of good responses.

Paying the ticket & insurance difference seems like a good bet. Use his attitude about it to see if he needs to lose the car for a bit. Rather than completely take the car, restrict non-school/work related activities with it. That way you're not having to play taxi for necessary activities.

JM

athensguy

I'm of the opinion that speeding tickets are really just an insidious tax without representation because speed limits are rarely if ever set to an appropriate level. There really is no appropriate level since that would have to take into account driver ability, conditions, and car performance. That said, I drive slowly (9mph over the speed limit in GA) all the time because I don't want to pay that tax I have no say in.

Very rarely have I seen a paragraph that fails to include any logic or common sense. This is one of them.

Even if you prefer speed limits to be set to maximize speeding ticket revenue, I fail to see how any of my assertions lack logic. There is no real definition of common sense so I can't really argue against that point, though my pragmatically driving under the threshold for speeding tickets would seem to indicate some usage of common sense.

1) Speeding tickets are rarely set to an appropriate level: http://www.motorists.org/speed-limits/speed-limit-fact-sheet.pdf

2) Taxation without representation: While not literally a tax, speeding tickets are often issued by agencies over which I have no voting control.

3) GA speeding law states that local police cannot use a speed measuring device to ticket a vehicle traveling fewer than 10 MPH over the speed limit. See the Official Code of Georgia, Annotated: O.C.G.A. § 40-14-8 (2011)

Feel free to refute my points.

christine24t

- pay the ticket
- pay anything that affects insurance (and differences)
- make him take the bus for a few days. i guarantee he won't speed again.

I'm of the opinion that speeding tickets are really just an insidious tax without representation because speed limits are rarely if ever set to an appropriate level. There really is no appropriate level since that would have to take into account driver ability, conditions, and car performance. That said, I drive slowly (9mph over the speed limit in GA) all the time because I don't want to pay that tax I have no say in.

Doesn't matter if you believe that speeding is wrong. It's illegal. Do I speed? Occasionally, usually not over 5 miles an hour more. Never gotten a speeding ticket. I might be mad if I get one, but I know it's wrong if I do speed.