Traffic Tickets: Politicians & Double Standards
By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist
It was a small incident but it revealed something interesting. Not just the hypocrisy of Those Who Rule Us when it comes to the issue of “speeding” — and much else besides. But more deeply, we are afforded a glimpse into the unconscious sense of privilege and entitlement that operates the wheels and cogs inside the minds of these people.
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford — he of the love junkets to South America on the taxpayer’s dime — recently got pulled over on SC Interstate 385 because a state trooper clocked his car at 85 mph. The posted maximum is 70. In many states, over 80 mph is an automatic reckless driving charge — which will cost you your license as well as affordable insurance for the next several years if you’re convicted.
At minimum, 85 mph means a big ticket for… well, anyone except one of Those Who Rule us.
But Sanford’s driver (and Sanford himself) was let go with no ticket at all. The perks of being one of Those Who Rule Us, you see.
In fact, he was barely inconvenienced. The stop itself lasted less than two minutes. Once the cop found out who was in the car, he backed off — and the governor’s car rolled away scott-free.
Here’s the video of the actual stop for your delectation:
When news of this leaked, guess who got nailed to the wall? Not Governor Sanford. Initially, the trooper who failed to write the ticket was to be “cited,” according to State Department of Public Safety DIrector Mark Keel. Eventually, the driver did, in fact, get a ticket. But only after a massive public outcry. The fact we should fix on is that the state cop immediately backed off once the governor made himself known. He, you see, may drive with impunity at high speeds on public roads. It is only “unsafe” (and ticketable) for the little people to do so.
As not One of Those Who Us, my sympathies are with the cop. A lowly functionary doesn’t ticket the state’s jefe anymore than a sergeant tells a general to drop and give him twenty. The poor cop no doubt feared for his job and whatever other dread repercussions the governor might decide to rain down upon him.
So, he let him (and his driver) go.
That’s not what aggravates here. What does aggravate is the Herman Goring-esque sense of importance and entitlement these poo-bahs radiate. Not since the Bourbons of 18th century France has a political class become so grating, unctuously arrogant. You or me or any other non-person doing 85 on the highways of South Carolina would in all likelihood be subjected to a gun-drawn felony stop and very likely, a roadside cuffing and stuffing. Probably our car would be searched for drugs. And then, impounded. We would have eventually been brought before a Torquemada-style judge and raked over the coals. After investing in a lawyer to defend us and hundred of dollars in fines and a suspended/revoked license later, we’d be “free to go.”
Free, that is, to pay jacked-up insurance premiums based on our “reckless driving” for the next three-to-five years, or however long the record remained active.
But kissy-face Sanford Man? Nothing. He hasn’t got an SCCA license and probably can’t drive as well as many of us “speeders.” But he is, after all, the governor.
Apparently, speed only kills when you’re not that.
Oh, and it bears mentioning that back in 2006, when the lieutenant governor of the state was stopped — and let go –twice for speeding, Sanford went on and on about the horror of it all. He felt “…very strongly that preferential treatment should never be a factor when enforcing the law.”
Just like those “family values,” you see.
These people are beneath contempt.
Unfortunately, they also have their boots on our necks — which means there is nothing we can do about it except take it or begin to resolve not to take it anymore.
And then, to do something about it.
What that something ought to be I cannot say. But clearly, it is time to do something. Everything is out of whack. Average people are held to one standard; the politically connected elite to another.
Those Who Rule Us need to go. Either that, or we can expect to be on the receiving end of more of the same.
Other Related Articles
To change the picture next to your comments, sign up at Gravatar.com. Each picture is associated with a particular email address. (This is a third-party service not affiliated with NMA.)
Sanford is a slowpoke compared to Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania. Oh wait Sanford is a Republican, therefore he’s fair game. Sorry.
1. The courts correctly maintain that hthe “Cops” job is to collect money for the “Municiple Corporation” that emploies them.
2. The “Law” is actually the “Motor Vechicle Code” a Contract not Law!
3. The MVC (Motor Vechicle Code) is designed to protect the profits of insurance companies not the individual. ie. it is cheaper if you die than to be injured for the rest of your life!
4. The Dept. of Transportation knows that whenever taxes go up people drive faster in response to the need to make more money to live. Can you say “Profit from their own misdeeds?”
5. Higher taxes also cause people to need to drive longer distances and use more fuel. The locations for better wages are often located far from locations that have a lower cost of living.
6. The courts have also stated that the government does nothing by accident.
visit http://www.FIJA.org for possible solutions.
Would a politician LIE?
1) the “Cops” are not doing their job because they have not got any money from me and millions of others.
3) My insurance premium is $242 every 6 months for full coverage. It must not be doing what it is supposed to do because that seems pretty low to me
4 and 5) I am not driving any farther than 25 years ago. Driving the same distance I am using 1/3 the fuel I did 25 years ago. Call it better gas mileage.
“You just don’t get it do you” what else are you wrong about?
You forgot #2
James the “Motor Vechicle Code” is a statute. It is the law not a contract.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=062500050HCh%2E+11+Art%2E+VI&ActID=1815&ChapAct=625%26nbsp%3BILCS%26nbsp%3B5%2F&ChapterID=49&ChapterName=VEHICLES&SectionID=59647&SeqStart=110200000&SeqEnd=111700000&ActName=Illinois+Vehicle+Code%2E
2) QUOTE FROM NMA:
Each state has a vehicle code, which is the collection of laws that govern the use of motor vehicles in that state.
Well guess what you boobs, passengers can or at least the driver can get ticketed for passengers not wearing their seatbelts.
Remember the horrific crash of that isht head NJ governor in his crappy american made SUV with the state trooper driver? They were speeding to some meeting, and govvy boy was not wearing his seatbelt and got fubar injured. Did he and the officer get a ticket or hefty driver responsibility “fee” from the state that originated this type of bullshat debtors prison law, despite the outrage and press coverage? No.
And if he hadn’t asked to be issued a ticket after the fact, he most likely wouldn’t have gotten one. Not good enough. Esp. since the vehicle was doing 91 in a 65, clearly reckless even with police escort/lights flashing. They are not supposed to do more than 10 over the limit unless it’s some effing holocost occuring.
Brings to mind another story I read in an major auto mag decades ago.
Somewhere in the desolate CA desert wasteland, the mag reporter and a sheriff were laying in wait. Clocked one of those crappy american barges called a buick roadmaster or some such thing doing 120. Lit the gumballs and gave hot pursuit. On a chance gust of wind to the back, they got the V8 chevy caprice up to 149(for reference BMW I6 are electronically limited to 155, hell even the 4cyl can go that fast) and were able to catch up, only to be flashed by a rear set of strobes from the heavily tinted windows on the car.
Cop pulls up beside the driver and is flashed a secret service badge. Turned out it was carrying some ahole senator or rep that’s contributed to the financial ruin of this country, as they all have.
Needless, the cop let them go, as their brotherhood is “trained” for high speed driving, and is a fed, which outranks state.
You are right “jokes on you”. Maybe we should require a ticket to be given to government officials for all laws that they break. While we are at it why don’t we give tickets to all the people that post on this site who break the laws.
Wait… hold the people who make the laws to the laws they make? That’s a very good idea Randy. Good boy!
Yes James we agree. Everyone should get a ticket if they are breaking laws. That means everyone on this site who says they drive 10 to 15 mph over the limit or more.
Ahh Randy… hello again :)
Regarding your last comment, yes, everyone should be ticketed if they break the law. Except you forgot one thing – what about the people putting up the illegal speed limit signs? They should be ticketed too… then we can all drive at the 85th-percentile speed while being safer and stuck in fewer traffic jams…
Don’t you agree?
Schwinn you are wrong about the 85th-percentile speed as the speed at which speed limit sings have to be to be legal. It is also true that on many streets where they analyze speed limits they do no have a mandatory need to set the speed limits to the 85th-percentile speed. If you look at any engineering information you will find that the 85th-percentile speed is only a starting point at which the speed limits are set to. If the road has hazards along it that people do not slow down for and should be driving slower for then the speed limit is lowered from the 85th-percentile speed. You and others here say you need to have the speed limits set to the 85th-percentile speed and at the same time say it is fine to drive well over that set speed. You can not have it both ways. If you drive faster than that you are not driving safely and that comes out of your own mouth.
I am sure you would be comfortable and safe to drive 50 mph in a school zone but it would not be safe for the kids.
I’m not “wrong” about the 85th-percentile speed, though you are correct in saying it’s not the ONLY measure to set a speed limit. Fact is, though, on most highways, and in most locations, the 85th percentile speed is the correct speed limit, yet it is not where the limit is set. I know this from seeing traffic studies in my area of MA, where the limits on major highways is set to 55, because that’s what they want it to be, while other similar areas of the same highway are 65, and all traffic is travelling 75.
Why do you (and other griefers) always go off into school zones? No one is talking about school zones or residential areas! Heck, this article doesn’t even show a school zone, and is showing a divided highway – stick to the topic, please.
Speed limits are supposed to be about SAFETY. If it has been repeatedly shown that higher, more reasonable limits are safer, then why aren’t they being set there? Because it’s not ACTUALLY about safety… it’s about making money. What’s more, as this article states, it’s about making money from the citizens, not the “leaders”… why? Because they’re “leaders”, not because of any safety-related reason. And that’s the point.
Schwinn show me one study that says faster is safer. The major problem is that everyone feels they can drive as fast as they feel like no matter if the speed limit is set at the 50 percentile or the 95 percentile. I do not know about your area that is set at 55 mph but from what I have seen 55 mph zones are located in heavy traffic areas where there is a lot of merging traffic and lane changes and are not usually that many miles in distance. If you can not slow down 10 mph or 15 mph for a few miles you should get a ticket. It would not matter if your speed limit was set to 70 mph because you and many others would try to drive 80 then and that is a fact. I have given multiple examples where that is the case. If you say well the speed limit should be 80 mph then. What does that do for trucks and many other vehicles that can not or will not drive that fast? The speed limits are set to keep all drivers closer to the same speed and increasing that speed too much makes a lot more difference between slower and faster cars.
I have seen areas where the speed limit was 65 mph in heavier traffic areas and the police slow the fast drivers down to that speed and the traffic flow is tremendous. If you get rid of the 85 mph drivers in that case you can switch lanes easily when needed.
As far as speed limits go, what do you care? You and others say you “never” follow the limits anyway. I have seen numerous posts where people say they drive 75 mph to 85 mph no matter what the limit is. That is the major problem and not that the speed limits are not at the value you think they should be.
Schwinn since I have never driven in MA I looked it up on the map and it looks really small. How many miles do you usually drive each day on this road that is 55 mph?
I am embarassed to show my ignorance but what do you mean by:
“Torqemada style judge”?
Reminds of a time when I was on a ride-along with a San Diego PD officer. We’re on the 15, about 9:30 at night; a car with no lights blows past us going an easy 75mph (this was in the 90’s sometime when 55 was the limit).
Cop pulls him over; goes and talks to the driver. In just a couple of minutes he comes back and says “This is the part of this job that really sucks; the guy is one of the city DA’s and way too drunk to be driving. We are going to follow him to the Dennys so he can get some coffee. If I arrest him I will probably never see another pay raise or promotion. If I don’t and he kills somebody I get sued.”
Looks like not much has changed.
I really had to laugh at that one. I just looked at the video. The governor was not even the driver. How often does Eric Peters think that a passenger should get charged for speeding? what a joke of an article. The more I read the articles from Eric Peters the more confidence I have that he is truely an idiot with no common sense.
I like how you admit you don’t even read the article. Or can’t read.
All in all an ok article ruined by loads of commentary.
Frank you are right. I did not read the entire article at first. The article was pretty much worthless from the beginning. I did not expect it to get better. All the first few hundred words talked about the governor going over the speed limit. Why was the governor even mentioned. The driver was responsible for following any laws and driving safely. They should have been talking about the driver the whole time. You can complain about the police not giving out a ticket to the driver but that happens all the time. How many policemen get a ticket when they are off duty?
I totally agree with you here, Randy… not sure what the governor has to do with the ticket. Bottom line is that the driver should have gotten the ticket, period… unless the speed limit was illegal, of course… in which case, maybe that should be fixed first, before ticketing the peons?
85mph, are you kidding me.
That isn’t fast. It is daytime, a divided multilane highway that is adding a lane.
Are the people in the south afraid of physics?
Of course people in the South are not afraid of physics. In fact many have actually studied physical education as a prerequisite for completion of eighth grade.
Funny that Eric Peters would write an article like that. I am very surprised he was not praising him and saying go for it. I guess there is a double standard. If you are not governor you should be allowed to break the law and if you are governor you are not and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law .
Nooo…. If you’re an official, you should be treated exactly like any other person. Government “of the people, for the people…”, remember? They’re not supposed to be above any law, yet they are.
Ok Jeff T, if the governor is to be treated like everyone else he should not be responsible for anything. Hard to get a speeding ticket sitting in the back seat.
Yep. Governers should be under the same laws we are. Why do some people find that hard to understand?