NYS Driver Responsibiity Assessment

[bavbob]

My son just go this, 300 bucks on top of the 240 dollar ticket. We live in Ma but since both states are horrible, it applies here. Just a rant, what kind of crap, a fine on top of a fine, then there is the insurance implication. Do I add that NYS and Ma have sh-- roads. We have gone way past where our forefathers intended government to go.......... Wonder what list I will get on for making that last statement.

 

[Stevehose]

That's one of many reasons why there is a mass (no pun intended) exodus from those and other nanny states

 

[Mot27cars]

Stupid

 

[GPD]

My son is out there running the streets of MA. Came back for break and got $250 ticket for going “the speed of traffic on 95”. 80 in 55. What does it take to get a $550 fine

 

[bavbob]

In NY the points are related to how many mph over the limit you are. 6 points or greater in 18 months gets you this 300 surcharge. 21 mph over the limit and there is your 6 points. My kid has driven for 3 years with no issue. Could have given him 20 mph over but a college kid from out of state in a BMW (granted a 2006 328ix). Rt 86 in NYS has been a giant trap since I was a kid...but I did warn him.

I would like to see data showing 21mph over causes more accidents/injuries and a 300 dollar surcharge has impact but this is politics, no data just visceral responses in retrospect.

 

[jmackro]

See the relevant story in yesterday's (01/16/2021) Wall Street Journal "New York, I Love You, but We Can't Go On Like This", by Mark E. Kingdon, (a life-long NYC resident). Mostly about the author's experiences with the City, but many references to the deterioration of the state of New York as well. The sentence that brought it all home for me: "Total (NY) state spending is $177 billion a year - almost twice the budget of Florida, which has a population that is 10% larger than New York's".

With that sort of a habit to feed, how can New York not fine people $540 for random speeding tickets?

 

[Gary Knox]

Yes, I agree that fine and fee is not rational. Is it fair - don't think so, but I've always understood 'life is not always going to be fair'.

I don't think the fine and fees are usually established by the police, but by the state politicians or their appointees. I've received well over a dozen speeding tickets over my 69 years of driving and in about a half dozen different states. I was guilty in every case, and paid the price. On a few occasions, the patrolman has been lenient and made it a warning, or maybe a couple of miles below actual to prevent a significant jump in the fine. Maybe this patrolman had a bad day, felt he had been/was disrespected by one or more drivers (and/or might have been required by statute to record the exact reading of the radar gun (if that was used). In all honesty, there have probably been several hundreds of thousands of miles during those 69 years where I was exceeding the posted limit and could have been cited, but no police were there to observe.

Any way, I can feel your son's pain, but there is both a risk and a reward to driving faster than the speed limit. He may never speed again, but is more probably like me - a single ticket every 5-10 years doesn't make me always set the cruise control at the speed limit!

Gary

PS: Yes, Jay that was an interesting article. Seems a lot of those who can afford it are heading out. Governor and NYC Mayor have an interesting issue to solve.

 

[jmackro]

Governor and NYC Mayor have an interesting issue to solve.

You are assuming that they are in charge.

 

[bavbob]

How about a list of outrageous and illogical auto related charges in each state. Here are some in Ma ( I have experienced every one of these):.

1) Expired inspection ticket is considered a moving violation and subject to insurance surcharge. Also, inspection sticker goes on the PASSENGER side, so easily overlooked when you use your DD.
2) Annual inspection........why do spanking brand new cars need inspection? Should get a 3 year by.
3) Tax on vehicle purchase is based on price if you paid at or above State book value but based on State book value if price you paid was below book value.
4) Classic car is above the age of 25 but state goes by years, not days ie, 25 and 360 days is not classic, it starts when the car is 26 so no Hagerty till 26 or older.

What about the conversion of two way to 4 way stops which I have seen all over the northeast. Does this save lives? anybody calculate the environmental impact of all that additional starting and stopping?

 

[Gary Knox]

I will comment on the most recent speeding ticket - received on the way to 'The Vintage' in NC nearly 4 years ago. I was driving the e31, and wanted to do 'the Tail of the Dragon' from TN into NC. Stopped for going 45 in a 25 mph zone about 20 miles east of Knoxville TN. This highway was going through a 4-5 mile stretch where the speed zone changed frequently from 45 mph to 25 mph then back again, with no visual difference in the areas on either side of the road. I also was searching for a junction with another highway where I needed to turn left, so wasn't paying as much attention to the speedo as I should have been..

After returning home, I called the 'Justice of the Peace' office to pay my $125 fine/costs. The lady looked up the record and said 'Oh yes, that is a widely known speed trap area, and you are from out of state, so they just watch and follow until the zone changes to trap you. We get a lot of revenue from that strip of road. It was near the end of the month so officer XXX may have been below his quota. Sorry for your inconvenience - we wish the town would change those speed limits. It gives us a bad reputation".

She took the credit card number, and we were 'all square'. Won't be driving through that town ever again - HA.

Gary

 

[Stevehose]

That's how I've justified owning a radar detector over the years, saved me countless times in that exact situation, especially here in the South with all the Buford T. Justices out there.

'Oh yes, that is a widely known speed trap area, and you are from out of state, so they just watch and follow until the zone changes to trap you. We get a lot of revenue from that strip of road. It was near the end of the month so officer XXX may have been below his quota. Sorry for your inconvenience - we wish the town would change those speed limits. It gives us a bad reputation".

She took the credit card number, and we were 'all square'. Won't be driving through that town ever again - HA.

Gary

 

[CSteve]

Footnote: Although it is nearly impossible to go the reduced speed limit in a construction zone(And everyone should go no more - it's a construction zone and we know how many state workers are killed in them every year ) you don't want to be ticketed in one in PA.

Son of a friend was caught. Year suspension of his license, huge fine, multiple Saturday mornings of Driver Ed School. To which he had to be driven. I believe it is a bigger charge overall than passing a stopped school bus with its lights flashing.

Gary, you can probably correct any inaccuracies in this as it is based on something that happened at least 10 years ago.

 

[JFENG]

Get him a Camry or Subaru
Or even better a Toyota Venza...

 

[bavbob]

One of our beloved E24 "Idiotfest" attendees comes with her husband who is an ex Virginia State Trooper. He said there were quotas regardless of what we are told and he actually would get reprimanded for not reaching his.

Here in Ma, a ticket is 3 points and stays for 5 years. Roughly 50 bucks per point surchage. So 150X5=750 dollar insurance surcharge on top of the ticket cost. How many who experience this are really a danger on the road? Show me data that a random speeding ticket correlates with injury/accidents.

Shall I mention legalization of Pot here. How perfect, we are the only ones in New England so we have people coming from other states to purchase. Tax is 20%. I cannot go to NH and buy fireworks because they see I am out of state where it is not legal. Do we do that for marijuana sales to New Yorkers for example, no. I can also say the tons of additional revenue has gone into a black hole. Our roads and infrastructure suck.

 

[Stan]

During the old crisis, people drove 55 to save fuel and the State was going crazy due to lack of speeding ticket revenue.
Fast forward to pandemic and working from home. Massachusetts taxed NH resident "non-resident income tax" but when those people worked from home, that tax no longer applies. Governor C Baker was trying to tax them anyway. It dod not work

 

[bavbob]

Sad thing is most of the money does not seem to go to help the public at large. Stan do you recall that motorcycle drivers would drive over the scenic windy roads in NH and some would cross into Ma for just a few miles with some one waiting to give them a ticket because there is a helmet law in Ma but no NH?

Maine charges a different property tax rate for those with a vacation home in Maine but a primary residence in a different state. That is blatantly discriminatory.

Downtown Boston parking meters allow those with handicap tags to not pay. If I had a handicap, I would view that as an insult. I would understand some decreased rate since mobility = time may be an issue.