As of October 1st, anyone caught doing 30mph over the speed limit in Florida faces vehicle confiscation, five to ten years in prison and a ten-year license suspension. Bill HB 137, which was signed into law earlier today, was originally targeted at motorcyclists, but was amended at the last minute to include all vehicles.
Originally introduced by State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, who developed an irrational fear of bikers after he witnessed some pulling wheelies and driving dangerously during a ride-along with Miami police, HB 137 has become known as the Anti-Biker Bill due to its discriminatory nature.
Defending motorcyclists during hearings at the state legislature, a representative of ABATE, a motorcycle lobby group, argued that the motorcycle specific penalties far outweighed those for motorists who violate a rider’s right of way, killing or injuring them.
Recently a motorcycle doing approximately 160 mph slammed into a large Ford SUV on US 19 near where I live. It hit so hard, that it bent the SUV in half killing both the motorcyclist and the SUV driver. This incident might have added fuel to the fire.
Found by KD Martin.
These Nanny Staters won’t be happy until everything in life is padded (for your safety) and joyless. It would also help if they didn’t give driver licenses away to everyone who wants one.
I understand the state wanting to punish speeders, but isn’t 5-10 years in prison a little excessive?
On one hand I hear about our prisons overcrowding, but then I hear about longer prison sentences for existing crimes being enacted along with new crimes being created every day.
I think the max for Vehicluar Homocide is only 5 years. Five to ten for speeding seems a little harsh. We all know that the prison is only going to apply to people who deserve it anyhow, you know the usual….non politicians…Black People…People who’s net worth is less than a million dollars….
Here in VA they were on the right approach with truly heavy fines for reckless driving. Unfortunately, they were only impossed on those who lived in VA, not everyone, for some really silly reason. Thus, the fines have gone away and people are getting refunds!
I guess the guys from Top Gear won’t be coming back to Florida for a while. 🙂
There is a public road near me that is 3 lanes divided with no stop lights. It is posted at 55 mph and everyone treats it like a freeway going 70mph. The other day they were doing some work to the side of the road and signs were posted 35mph.
In one hour, the state prison system could be filled past capacity. Law and Order brain dead types should be very happy.
Ahhh who is the victim in speeding if no one is hurt? I can understand reckless driving or driving to endanger when you really endanger but going fast and placing your own life in your own hands should not be a crime. If I speed and no one catches me and no accident occurs was anyone victimized? I would love to see a super license bill pass where you get a special license to drive fast and your vehicle has to go through additional inspection. After getting it you can drive as fast as you wish. Any Accident you are at fault in or a DUI revokes your ability to hold this license forever.
I recommend that the residents of Florida look into the process for a recall of State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, any other legislators who voted for this idiocy, and the governor who signed it into law. I’m guessing that these are the same folks who legislated Florida into not having a Democratic primary. These people have to be stopped and I’d think that the large number of retired attorneys down there could spear a drive to do it!
#8 yes I have used race tracks many times. And I learned a lot there. However firing a shotgun in downtown Miami and driving over 100 miles per hour on a road with light to no traffic are very different things. I certainly would not recommend driving at any speed with my eyes closed. Lets say you could get a license to fire a shotgun in situations where it was deemed appropriate and you did so… Hey wait isn’t that a license to carry .. they do have this today. I would not recommend driving at 100MPH in downtown Miami either.
I digress. I drove for 20 plus years on US highways. Several thousands of sometimes reaching speeds over 100 MPH without issue. Never causing any accidents or injuries to anyone. On occasion at speeds over 150 MPH. Did I put myself in danger sure. Were there any people around at these times that were in danger NO! It is about driving smart and having respect for others. Not just lumping large fix everything laws at everyone. I pay more attention to my driving then most people I admit. In fact the only accidents I have been involved in were at speeds under 5 MPH or stopped.
Oh sorry one last thing if this is such and issue why not put speed limiters on all cars sold in the US to not exceed say 75 MPH. Would be interesting to see if the highway death rates would fall any. I am betting NOT as I would no longer be bale to get away from the cell phone talking, coffee drinking, SUV drivers in front of me running three wide weaving and randomly braking.
why not put speed limiters on all cars sold in the US
R E V E N U E
What would our poor police do without speeding fines? Get an honest job?
The most dangerous thing about really excessive speed is that you come up on unsuspecting motorists very quickly. In the case of the motorcycle doing 160 that hit the SUV, he was so far away when the SUV started his left turn that he wasn’t visible. You cover a lot of territory in a short period of time at that speed.
Looks like Florida Republicans are going to lose power just like they did in Virginia.
Repeal all auto safety regulation. Put the driver’s seat on the front bumper of the vehicle.
Wait for the Darwin effect to make the highways relatively safe. Or have all young drivers have to spend their first two years driving a liter-bike class motorcycle instead of a car. The survivors would either be relatively sane drivers or have truly awesome reflexes and hand-eye co-ordination.
I survived.
5 to 10 years jail time for doing 30 over???
I guess i won’t be buying that BMW M3!
But this is in Florida where, I’m told, all drivers are over 80 years old and cruise around in Cadillacs at 15 mph. Except in Miami. Maybe.
I think the key here is the 30 over the posted. If you are going thirty miles over the speed limit you are not speeding you are wantenly endangering the public.
In W Texas, I-20 is so straight and flat you can literally see the horizon up the road. 150 mph? No problem, unless you get caught. 90 mph is the norm. And some truckers run convoys at 100+.
Last time I was stopped (for 90+), I told the State Trooper, “Look, just make it out for 100. If my boss knew I was loafing, he’d fire me.”
Good laugh = no ticket.
#19
Frankly, doing 30 MPH *under* the speed of traffic is blatantly endangering the public. If everyone is doing 100 MPH, then doing 55 is unsafe. Furthermore, if the speed limit is 55 and everyone is doing 80, then the speed limit should be 80. I cannot count how many times I have had some old bastard nearly get me or himself into a wreck because he tried to merge at 40 MPH on an LA freeway where everyone is doing 80 MPH.
As if all of the dumbass shit that goes on in this incredibly assinine haven for mentally retarded elected officials (Say that three times as fast as you can)is not enough, I have the Florida Tag of disdain stamped on me due to to a lack of timing on my mother’s part. A week earlier and I would have been born in another state and lived a life without shame. I don’t get it. Most of the natives I knew growing up there were sane and intelligent. I have lived in Atlanta since 1970.
#21 Thanks for bringing that up. I live in Atlanta and have driven on the freeways of L.A. as well as here and I totally agree that slow speeds are about as dangerous as high speeds in those instances.
Florida is screwed up because most of the people that live here are from somewhere else. Most Florida natives are pretty cool. (Me included of course.)
Oops. I’m just barely getting over the flu so I mis-read that post as #19. What I meant to say was #21. God the flu sucks.
[Fixed – ed.]
Great idea for a law, hopefully get those morons who feel they want to live ‘the fast and furious’ movie a second thought.
There is no need for anyone to do 30+ faster in any setting…as was said above, if you want to go that fast, go pay for time on a track.
“and he said, what are you here for?” so I answered “speeding.”
They all moved away just a bit on the bench there, being that i was involved in a big crime all….
Anyone thinking all this nanny state garbage is a good idea should go re-read 1984.
The most important thing to remember, driving is a privilege and NOT a RIGHT. If speeding is okay as long as you’re not caught then I guess our illegal immigrants do have an argument to stay. If you want to speed then move to Montana or Germany and kill yourself there.
Thank God for the last two posters or I’d have written of the users of this site as morons.
This is NOT an example of the nanny state. Someone doing 30 m.p.h. over the limit is putting MY life at risk not just theirs.
You know the old saying, “The right to swing your fist ends at my nose”? Yeah, it applies here.
Go to a racetrack if you want to drive fast. That way there’s an ambulance standing by to scrape your mangled corpse off the asphalt.
Just another reason to stay out of the retard state.
amen to that gquaglia
What many of you are not understanding is why this bill was proposed. I understand that it is stated clearly in the quoted text but you don’t understand apparently.
Down here in Miami on i75, i95, the 826, 836, etc. you can have up to 10 bikers at a time weaving through traffic at over 150 miles an hour. Sounds crazy but when you are in a Honda S2000 doing 80 (despite that the limit is 55 but do the speed limit and you will be run over, literally) and bikes are going between you and another car that is next to you then you might change your mind. Watching a biker go between two semi trucks just to get the praise of the other rider. Then there is my personal favorite, since moving down to Miami I have seen 3 riders wreck while doing wheelies at high rates of speed. All ended up in the back of an ambulance heading to the hospital.
These people know what they are doing, they place their license plates behind the rear wheel to hide it from cops. They are so daring that, like the article states, do this in front of cops knowing they can’t see the license plate and that they can out run the cops.
Most, if not all, of the people doing this is guys 18 to mid 30s. They don’t do it because they are in hurry they do it for fun. My friend who use to ride with people doing this stopped when he broke his leg and his collar bone when a Ford SUV changed lanes and he had no place to go and wrecked his motorcycle.
This law, like the Death Penalty is out there to scare people but if they do it now knowing fully they would go to jail before this law they aren’t going to stop any time soon.