Welcome to Indiana, home of the $1,000 speeding ticket. And that's just the beginning...
States have come up with some neat little quips to get people to slow down for work zones on freeways. "Slow for the cone zone" comes to mind. The Hoosier State has shunned the soft sell and gone straight for the I-double-dog-dare-you-to-speed-here school of prevention by serving up a $1,000 ticket.
Starting July 1, the Indiana DOT can lower speed limits without previous any study in highway work zones. Then, they can send five-0 to the scene to make sure Joe Q. Driver isn't trying anything funny, even if there aren't any workers present. The first time Joe's foot slips after he passes the 45 mph sign, it's $300. The second infraction is $500. And if that doesn't cure his wayward ways, then his gracious donation of $1,000 will gladly be accepted by the good state of Indiana. Oh yeah, and if he fights it and loses it's another $70.
Our favorite provision is the "aggressive driving" misdemeanor. If you drive 46 mph in a highway work zone and perform any aggressive action on a driver in front of you, such as flashing your headlights, and you get caught, you get a $5,000 fine that probably comes with its own Howitzer sound effects. If you do it again, the officer will apply a Rowdy Roddy Piper sleeper hold, then pin you to the mat with a $10,000 ticket, three years in jail, and a felony on your record. Don't mess with Texas Indiana.
[Source: The Newspaper]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Drewboy 3:40PM (5/27/2007)
I really don't think going this extreme is a bad idea. I say this as someone whose close friend had his back broken as the result of someone's aggressive driving while he was working in a construction zone locally (in IL). One of his friends has since been KILLED because someone thought he was smart to speed through a construction zone. People are idiots, and if they can't control themselves, then legislation has to be put in place to do so.
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paul34 3:47PM (5/27/2007)
Flashing lights are aggressive? And here I was using it as a more courteous alternative to horns at night... you know, just in case someone isn't paying attention to the green (even though I give them time anyway).
Just as a nice "Excuse me" rather than seeming pissed off.
it seems everything is interpreted as road rage... but that's mostly because Americans don't know how to drive, and don't know the proper language of road travel.
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Zippy 5:39PM (5/27/2007)
How ridiculous. Vague, draconian BS. Indiana is a sad, backwarda place.
Jim 4:29PM (5/27/2007)
Flashing lights and honking horns are not agressive things. Indiana is just a conservative peice of crap. I know, I live here. In Florida getting honked at is an every day thing. Here people think it's a gunshot. The dump called Indiana won't be getting any of my money, but that is just lame.
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Mattlach 10:01AM (5/29/2007)
I think it depends on how honking is done.
Here in Boston it is pretty custom for impatient fools to honk their horns as soon as the light turns green if the car infront of them hasn't peeled out yet.
Usually if someone honks at me like that I'll intentionally take my time to get moving making sure to block them while giving them the finger.
Flashing lights and honking are very arrogant and rude things to do. Find of shoing off a "I'm more important than you so get out of my way" attitude. While I agree that a $10,000 fine for flashing your highbeams is not only a little bit excessive, it is rude and I don't like people who do it.
If you want to pass, wait until the road clears up, and don't be an asshole.
Shrapnel 4:31PM (5/27/2007)
Agree with Paul34. For heaven's sake - the feature is called "flash to pass". It is built into the damned car!
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Jay 5:43PM (5/27/2007)
As someone who learned to drive in Indiana, I remember the "flash to pass" being outlined in the state driver's manual as a requirement before passing a vehicle, though nobody actually does it. So I'm sure being cited for flashing your lights when passing could be easily contested.
Getting 2 inches from someone's rear bumper when they're doing the speed limit and constantly flashing your lights on a road where there's no opportunity to pass to get them to move over because you want to go 20 over, however, would probably be interpreted as aggressive, and rightly so.
MikeW 5:41PM (5/27/2007)
I hope people will look up the term 'jury nullification'
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Pedal to the metal 5:54PM (5/27/2007)
This is TOTALLY BULLSHIT! First of all the flash-to-pass is a feature built-in and most of the idiots you have to flash at shouldn't be behind the wheel in the first place. Agressive drivers is some liberal crap to excuse their lousy driving habits, like, putting on make-up in the HOV lane, reading the paper, eating their one too damn many BigMac, and the worst of all chatting on their damn cell phone! Its the IDIOT drivers you IDIOT Indianian!
Last, isn't Indiana where the Indy 500 is raced? HUH? No other reason to go to that state besides the Indy 500.
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dakota 6:35PM (5/27/2007)
IL has a similiar fine setup I believe, so it's nothing new for the commuters that go back and fourth between the two states.
Also some of you seem to miss the entire word "agressive", which in driving would be tailgating, cutting in and out of traffic, ect....It's not that you flashed your lights to pass, you get a hefty fine for driving like a moron and abusing the feature like you own the damn road.
Key point to the whole story: slow down in construction zones PERIOD. If your in that damn late/in a hurry then you should have left sooner, it's your own stupid fault for wasting time.
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$0.02 6:55PM (5/27/2007)
Does Indiana reciprocate with Pennsylvania regarding traffic violations. If they don't, good luck getting me to pay that fine. If they do, you'll find me at my summer home in Canada. Good luck getting me to pay that fine from there either!
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$0.02 6:56PM (5/27/2007)
Studies show that when construction workers are placed further back from the actual zone with a stop sign on a long pole above their head and the pole is waving back and forth, as done in Canada, injuries and deaths are reduced dramatically. I am still amazed when Bubba is standing 5 ft in front of the work area with one hand hold a miniature sign and his other hand scratching his ass (then sniffing his hand). Get in the freakin' 20th Century. Oh thats right it's the 21st. My how behind we are here!
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SOhp101 9:00PM (5/27/2007)
And people comment about how California is ridiculously extreme on their laws?
At least our laws make complete sense. Outlawing flashing lights? that's hilarious.
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far jr 9:51PM (5/27/2007)
Jay and Dakota said it best regarding flashing your lights!
Slow down or pay the piper. That is not a hard concept. If the law was enforced in all construction zones and school zones fewer life changing "accidents" would occur. No one seems to care unless thier kids attend the school or thier dad/son/husband works on that jobsite. Such a shame our society shows so little concern for other individuals.
$0.02... you are the exact type I am referring to. You think "Bubba" is the problem, not yourself. If you cannot stop for ANY object in the middle of you lane, then YOU are driving too fast! Like it or not. "Bubba" should have a warning sign placed in advance of his worksite to notify you but even if the wind from an 18 wheeler blew it over, you should be alert enough to avoid him. What if it was a kid chasing a ball, a car broke down in your lane in a curve, or a rock that fell from a bank into your lane? All your fault, just the same as "Bubba's" work site.
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shimman 10:32PM (5/27/2007)
not sure why they are bothering drivers that much; i hope at least they let go with mild speeding like 5 to 10 miles/hour in 60+miles/hour zone
it would be better if they enforce such measures to more serious crimes like rapes rather than making drivers lives !@#$
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sfast 10:59PM (5/27/2007)
Lame. More highway workers have died on the highways by being run over by their coworkers then other motorists.
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Barney 3:58PM (5/28/2007)
"Lame. More highway workers have died on the highways by being run over by their coworkers then other motorists."
B.S. Show the stats backing up this stupid remark.
sfast 3:27PM (5/29/2007)
I have no idea where to find that stat. Car and Driver's Patrick Bedard wrote an column on this subject a while back. I can't remember all the number acruately. As I remember about 400 workers died in 10 or 15 years. Of those about 100 died because of worksite accidents like falling off of over passes. Just over 150 died by getting run over by their co workers and just over 150(but not as much as the last number) died because of motorests like you and me.
And I would like to add that the "slow for the cone zone" campain sucks. As I drive I find far to many double pentaly zone with no one working in them. And you still get a big ticket regardless of the lack of workers.
"it's the money"
Ed Kapuscinski 1:35AM (5/28/2007)
This would be completely fair, but only if it was only in effect while workers were present.
Here in MD (and in PA), road "construction" projects can stretch out for eons, and most of that time the project plan looks like:
March: Place cones, signs & barrels.
October: Start work
November: Suspend work for winter
April of next year: replace barriers that have been snow plowed.
It's ridiculous.
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Aki 2:23AM (5/28/2007)
This is a stupid law, because "aggressive" is far too vague and will create problems down the road. It only gives cops more false pretenses to pull people over.
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