In Speeding Parts 1 and 2 we discussed the traffic offense of speeding in Ohio. Dealing with speed during the operation of a motor vehicle as well as the maximum posted limits on certain streets in various zones. Part 3 will be a discussion of the penalties and points assigned to the speeding convictions.
Ohio law requires any Mayor’s Court, Municipal Court or Federal Court with jurisdiction in the state must report all convictions to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. A conviction also includes the forfeiture of bond for the violation.
When a police officer issues a citation for speeding, it is actually only a summons to appear in court for the alleged offense. The only person who can declare guilt is when a judge finds the offender is guilty of the offense. A trial by judge is always a right a person has before any punishment can be given.
When a citation is written the officer will assign a court date and time for the offender to appear to begin the process of a trial. Should the offender decide not to go to trial, the court has a bond schedule for all offenses. The offender can sign the back of the citation and deliver it to the court with the bond amount and this is called forfeiture of the bond and the person is found guilty and the bond includes the fine and court costs.
The penalty for every violation has a degree of offense. A non-moving or first time offense for moving violations is usually minor misdemeanors. As a MM, the offense carries no jail time possible. Running a traffic control device, minor speeding, equipment violations are in the MM category. The fine or bond is the most one can be assessed.
As each offense progressively becomes more serious, the degree of the offense increases. Not only does the offense carry a monetary fine, actual jail time can be given by the judge. For instance a 3rd speeding offense within a twelve month period becomes a fourth degree misdemeanor. Along with the fine the judge can give up to 30 days in jail. A fourth offense of being found guilty within 12 months becomes a third degree misdemeanor punishable by a higher fine and 180 days in the county jail.
The Ohio Revised Code also makes the speeding violations fourth degree misdemeanors when the offense is for going faster than 35 mph in a business district, 50 mph in residential districts and 35 mph in a school zone with children present.
When the offense is a fourth degree misdemeanor or higher, punishable by jail time a bond cannot be forfeited. The offender must appear in court on the assigned court date.
Over the years violator’s who had experience in appearing in court multiple times would ask the issuing officer to maybe write the ticket for less than what the actual speed was so they could just post bond and not have to appear. To me this was asking the officer to lie and sign a court affidavit to facts that were not true. The idea behind a fine and possible jail time is to act a deterrent not to commit the offense again, not make money for the court.
People who claim the City has the officer go out and write speeding tickets for revenue are simply wrong. A city or government entity paying a trained police officer, driving very expensive police vehicles is not even coming close to breaking even let alone making a profit with a $9 fine, which is the amount that comes back to the city on a $100 plus fine/court costs.
When found guilty or bond is forfeited, the court of jurisdiction then submits the record to the BMV who must keep the court transcript on file. The BMV then assigns points to the offender’s driving record.
A minor misdemeanor speeding ticket will put two points on your record. When convicted of going more than 30 mph over the speed limit, four points are attached. The points always stay on your record just as does the conviction. What the point system does is to catch the frequent offenders and allow for their driving privileges to be suspended.
Within a 24 month period a person who accrues 12 points is now going to have their driver’s license suspended. So let’s take a person who just does not care about spending money on fines and has no intention of driving safely. Two speeding tickets, a red light violation, stop sign and a speeding for 37 mph in a school zone adds up to 12 points and an automatic State Suspension of driving privileges.
Take away half of those 12 points and a person convicted of an OVI being assessed six points and again they have reached 12 points and a suspension over and above the OVI suspensions.
Now here is where the true cost of speeding comes into play. Every insurance company in the State of Ohio has access to your BMV driving transcript and a person with high points will be paying high risk insurance just to keep their license. I have a friend who sells only high risk insurance out of his business. He has made a very nice living off people who care nothing about how they drive.
Read the Ohio Revised Code sections dealing with speeding penalties and points being assessed. It actually is worth the read to evaluate what kind of driver you are by totaling the number of points you have accrued over two years or even longer.
