Speeding Tickets Essay, Research Paper

The popular movie “Top Gun” coined a phrase that reads “I feel the need, the needfor speed.” Many drivers today would agree with that phrase. Speeding is one of themost common ways that people break the law. When people break the law there areunpleasant consequences. A speeding ticket is an effective form of discipline: payingfor a ticket, traffic school, and higher insurance rates.Paying for a speeding ticket is an unpleasant experience. A ticket can beoutrageously expensive depending on how fast you were speeding. Some statescharge ten to twenty dollars per mile an hour over the speed limit. The officer assignsyou a day to appear in court, if you choose to fight the ticket rather than pay the fine. Waiting in the courtroom to see the judge can be very close to a death sentence. Thewait is long, and the company can be frightening. Once you plead your case, yougenerally end up paying the fine. This only leads to another line, and another wait. Thishas to be the most unpleasant part of a speeding ticket.In addition, paying for traffic school is also a disagreeable experience. If you waited tosee the judge, you may be on your way after paying the fine. If the judge is kind, andoffers a traffic school option, the unpleasantness continues. Usually the traffic schoolis no where near to the courthouse, which causes you to search to find the it. The

great experience of paying is close at hand after locating the school. You must endurethe nine hour course after paying for the privilege of attending. This is a class mostpeople would have never taken if given the chance. The unpleasantness associatedwith a speeding ticket is almost finished when you have completed the course.A reoccurring reminder of a previous mistake is evident in higher insurance rates. Most insurance companies feel that speeding tickets make someone a higher risk. So, to offset the risk they raise the premium. Which means it is more expensive toobtain insurance. If the insurance company decides to raise your rates by only tendollars it can have a lasting effect. When the ticket falls off your driving the record,usually in three to five years, you have spent more than one thousand dollars morethan if you had not been speeding. The insurance company raises your rates witheach ticket, until they cancel the policy. This alone makes it worthwhile to obey thelaw.A speeding ticket is an effective form of discipline, with court, with traffic school, andwith higher insurance rates. The deterrents for speeding are not all outwardlynoticeable until you has been through the process. Once you have a speeding ticketexperience, you may be more careful to obey the law.