Many “super speeders” who show up in Catoosa County Probate Court are incredulous to find a state fee of $200 included in their speeding fine, Judge Gene Lowery said.
“The communication we have with people is they have no idea there is a super speeder law,” Judge Lowery said.
The so-called “super speeder” law took effect Jan. 1 but many lead-footed drivers don’t know about it before they get a ticket, local officials said.
“Usually when they have to pay that fine, they discover it’s there,” said Jackie Womack, chief deputy in the Dade County Sheriff’s Office.
The $200 state fine kicks in when motorists are ticketed for driving more than 75 mph on two-lane roads and 85 mph on the interstate or any other highway. The extra ticket comes in the mail after the original traffic fine is paid.
Before the law went into effect, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and other state agencies put out announcements about it, said Katie Fallon, a highway safety office spokeswoman.
Most major highways and interstates are watched over by the Georgia State Patrol.
State Trooper Eric Tallent said he gets a lot of questions about the new law, but he hasn’t seen driver attitudes change.
“On a normal day-to-day patrol basis, I haven’t seen speeds decreasing or the number of speeders decreasing,” Trooper Tallent said.
The state mailed 142 notices in January and 1,084 in February to super speeders, according to the Georgia Department of Driver Services.
About 150 tickets were issued in Catoosa County, Judge Lowery said.
Probate Court officials in Dade, Walker and Whitfield counties said they aren’t tracking the number of super speeder tickets in their courts.
Drivers have 90 days to pay the fee or face suspension of their license, said Susan Sports, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Driver Services. She said no licenses have been suspended under the law so far.
Money collected from fines goes in the state’s general fund and is earmarked for trauma care, Ms. Sports said.
Cpl. D.C. Gleaton of the Georgia State Patrol said that when he pulls over speeders, he lets them know if they’ve cracked the super speeder ceiling.
He said he sometimes gets drivers from out of state who are unaware of the law.
“I do try to take discretion,” he said. “But the bottom line is speeding is speeding.”
Ms. Sports said the governor’s office tries to educate out-of-state drivers with brochures in welcome centers.
Dade County Probate Judge Jan Ellison said she tries to let all traffic violators know about the super speeder fee.
“We try to tell people, especially at the beginning of the year, to tell your friends and family,” Judge Ellison said. “Hopefully it’s a deterrent, because a lot of accidents are caused by speeding.”
ACROSS THE LINE
In Tennessee, the “super speeder” law is at a standstill. Lawmakers are raising concerns about everything from fairness and government fee grabs to angry violators overloading courts with demands for jury trials.