Speeding Tickets: Public Safety or Public Plunder?

by Rick Gee

I was driving down a wide-open four-lane divided highway, cruising along at 61 mph. At least I was cruising along at 61 mph according to one of Santa Fe County's finest (talk about a misnomer). I found that out later, after experiencing that inevitable sinking feeling one suffers when one observes those menacing cherries in the rear view mirror. "Damn it!" 

Now, I should preface the main body of my comments by saying that this particular enforcement functionary, whose salary comes out of my paycheck, was business-like and straightforward, exhibiting none of the superciliousness typical of his brethren. 

Nevertheless, I was irked to be pulled over for speeding when I was merely traveling along with the flow of traffic. One of the best teachers I ever had in government school was Joe Sitko, revered Driver's Ed instructor. What does it say about government schools that my Driver's Ed teacher was my best teacher? Anyway, he taught me that if you travel at the same speed as the cars in front of you and the cars in back of you, it is not considered speeding, even if all cars are surpassing the speed limit by 10 or even 20 miles per hour. Apparently this was news to the young sheriff's deputy I encountered that day. 

The area where this cop was sitting with his mighty radar gun was right before a traffic light-controlled intersection, speed limit 45. 200 yards beyond the intersection, the speed limit is 65. 400 yards beyond the intersection begins a significant hill. As you might imagine, drivers approaching this intersection, when blessed with a green light, speed up in anticipation of climbing the approaching hill. Yes, I know, you're way ahead of me: classic speed trap. 

After Skippy dutifully handed me the speeding citation, I drove off, incensed at the indignity of it all. For the egregious offense of traveling with the flow of traffic at 61 mph in light traffic on a dry road on a perfectly clear day, I was expected to donate over $100 to the County. Outrageous! 

Under the guise of protecting the public, cops routinely harass motorists who are posing no danger whatsoever to their fellow travelers. To be sure, slow drivers are a far greater menace on the roads than are speeders, particularly when everyone else is speeding. If the police are truly concerned about public safety, why are they not stationed at the major intersections and nailing all those people who habitually run red lights? And I'm not talking about the occasional driver who thinks he'll hit the intersection under yellow only to see the light change to red a split second too soon. I'm referring to the idiots who, when the light turns yellow when they're still a quarter-mile away, mash the accelerator to the floor and miss it by two or three seconds. These people have an inflated sense of their own importance: "Hey, I'm in a hurry and screw everyone else." 

So if the traffic laws enacted by the state and enforced by the goons aren't really about safety, what are they for? Two things, as I see it. One, they simply want to exercise control over the populace. Two, they consider it a relatively simple and efficient way to fill the coffers with even more of our money. 

I haven't yet paid this ticket. I'd love to be able to say that I just wanted to rebel against the state, but the truth is that I simply forgot about it by the end of the day and never thought about it again, much like a politician forgets about his oath to uphold the Constitution the minute he removes his hand from the bible. 

My memory was jogged when I received a letter from the Secretary of State some six months later informing me that my driver's license had been suspended for failure to appear before the tribunal. Ah yes, the wheels of the state rotate just like those on a Ferrari, do they not? The state demands that I pay the original fine plus $25 to have my license reinstated. Legal extortion: great work if you can get it, I guess. 

That was a couple of months ago. To this very day, I continue to drive as a scofflaw. Am I therefore a threat to all other motorists just because my legal right to drive my own vehicle to work has been suspended? As Rachael Anne Fajardo so lucidly explained, the answer is a resounding no. On the contrary, I remain, as I am wont to tell my friends, "The Best Damn Driver in Santa Fe County." 

I have two options at this point. I can continue to defy the authorities and drive where I want, when I want. Eventually, I may be pulled over because I am unaware that a taillight bulb has burned out. This will no doubt earn me a chauffeured trip to the county lockup. 

My second option is to report to the judge down at the Magistrate Court. If given the chance to speak in my own defense, I shall utter the following: 

"Mr. Judge (I refuse to use the term "Your Honor." I honor myself, my wife and my mother, but most definitely NOT a lawyer-politician in a black robe.), this citation is contemptible. First of all, I am innocent. It is my legal right to travel with the flow of traffic, and everybody that day was traveling at roughly the same speed. Why I was singled out I cannot say. Nonetheless, this ticket should be unconditionally dismissed. 

"But there is a larger issue, beyond my own fate in this matter, that screams to be addressed in this public forum. Why are we paying the police to sit behind a bush near the border of a higher speed limit to harass citizens who are merely going about their business, driving to work or church or the grocery store, who pose no threat to anyone? Are there not real crimes that need to be investigated? Are there not neighborhoods where crime runs rampant in which the presence of the police might actually have a deterrent effect? Why is my right, and the right of my fellow citizens, to travel freely, so long as I am not driving recklessly, being trampled upon?" 

July 30, 2001

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