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Comment by StopHammoTime | Hacker News Reader

I think this plays a huge part as well. My wife and I were watching an episode of the US cop show “The Rookie” and they casually discussed paying a ticket for driving SEVENTY MILES OVER THE SPEED LIMIT. I went and checked and in LA the cost is about $500. This blew my mind.

In Australia, you are very at risk for jail for going over anything above 40km/h which is about 25mph. It’s considered reckless/dangerous driving. Your license would also be suspended for six months. I think we have excessive fines but the US seems to go in the opposite direction.

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Seventy over in Lousiana or Los Angeles?

In California, my understanding is there's three classes of speeding ticket (1-15, 16-25, and 26+), but there's also a separate offense for doing over 100 mph [1] that allows for a license suspension of up to 30 days at court discretion on the first offense, with mandatory suspensions on further offenses. Additionally, I think you commited both the basic speeding and the 100+ speeding. And as a sibling remarked, you're likely to catch a reckless driving charge too.

Entertainment media isn't always the best way to get legal information.

Also, the cost of a ticket is the fee by law, plus a bunch of court fees and other stuff. IIRC, when I had a speeding ticket near Los Angeles, the fee by law was about 1/3rd the overall cost. I had to deposit the full fees in order to contest the ticket.

[1] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...

France is closer to Australia. If you're caught driving 30+ km/h (18 mph) over the speed limit, tailgating (reckless passing would be the translation), pass a red light, or caught for DUI (or half a dozen more cases I think), you loose your license temporarily, until you get a medical exam and pass 'in front' of a judge (I think actually you do not have to present yourself or have representation if you agree with the facts). You then lose your license for a week to two year. If it's for 6+ month, you have to pass psychometric tests to get it back (unless you're 90, you will easily pass those). You can still drive licenceless cars.

I think you misunderstood. Under the California vehicle code that would usually be charged as reckless driving rather than a simple moving violation.

https://www.eastonlawoffices.com/blog/reckless-driving-examp...

> I think this plays a huge part as well. My wife and I were watching an episode of the US cop show “The Rookie” and they casually discussed paying a ticket for driving SEVENTY MILES OVER THE SPEED LIMIT. I went and checked and in LA the cost is about $500. This blew my mind.

This is mind-blowing, but it would be surprising to find this would happen without additional consequences. A friend of mine was ticketed for 20 MPH over the speed limit (not in California) and had his license suspended. Most states in the US adopt a points-based system that triggers suspension when you acquire sufficient numbers. California is no different.

They can. Highways in California are filled with people averaging 20mph over and it’s rare to see anyone pulled over.

Having received speeding tickets in california, the fine is only the base charge. The total ticket is usually 3 to 4x the cost of the base fine. All in, 99 in a 75 was ~$500 a decade ago (100 in a 75 is reckless driving, and a whole different level).

That would also be reckless driving in LA.

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