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News › Increased Fines Should Help Restore Sanity to Florida's Roads
South Florida Sun Sentinal Editorial Board calls new measure targeting reckless motorcyclists a no-brainer.
Lawmakers this week passed a very necessary increase in fines for reckless driving by dare-devil motorcyclists. Now all that would be needed is a heavier presence by police officers to start issuing the costly tickets, and curb the idiocy that all too frequently endangers motorists on highways.
A bill approved by the Senate this week would triple the fine for excessive speeding and dangerous driving. The measure is headed to Gov. Charlie Crist, who ought to sign it faster than the speed of a high-powered motorcycle racing and weaving through traffic.
Anyone who's driven on South Florida highways, be it I-95, I-75 or the Palmetto Expressway in Miami, usually on a weekend day, or late at night, knows this measure is a no-brainer. Reckless motorcyclists, almost always on racing-style motorcycles, routinely endanger people as they rocket through highways like ballistic missiles.
Just this week, such driving may have resulted in the death of one man, and injuries to two others in chain-reaction crashes on I-95. The accident is under investigation.
Now a ticket for carelessness and foolishness will cost $1,000 for a first-time offense, up from $250. There's also the possibility of jail time for repeat offenders.
This is welcome news. But much heftier fines won't deter, let alone punish, the craziness if law enforcement officers aren't out there to hand out tickets, and plenty of them.
Doling out tickets will help bring sanity, and restore a measure of safety, on the highways. But it would have been better if lawmakers had further bolstered the rules of the road by slamming people who drive at all with expired, suspended or revoked licenses.
There's way too much lawlessness on South Florida highways. The toll is huge, in terms of lives lost, injuries sustained, property damaged and time lost by bystanders in traffic tie-ups caused by spectacular wrecks.
Our highways are a lifeline for transportation and commerce. Guarding them, and enforcing rules, must be a priority.
BOTTOM LINE: The foolishness will be costly — and rightfully so.
Posted by editor on Sunday, May 04, 2008 (21:37:49) (215 reads)
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