SPEEDING STATS

Sources: law-kc.com, myimprov.com, Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles report the situation, people can still be scared and frustrated in those times.

Junior Ellie Wilkins was driving with her windows down and blasting music. She was driving through a 45 mph speed limit when it turned 35 mph. Not noticing the sign in the dark of night, Wilkins was pulled over.

“I started to have a panic attack and was crying uncontrollably,” Wilkins said. “I had no clue what to do and I even pulled over on the wrong side of the road, luckily the officer was super nice and walked me through what to do.”

Wilkins got a warning and has been pulled over two times since then and got a warning for those too. Wilkins was able to get a warning the next time because she was respectful and followed the officer’s instructions.

“If you do everything you are asked to do, you will most likely not get a ticket,” Gil said. “My main goal is to educate, not to punish. I want to help teenagers and adults be better drivers and keep everyone safe on the road, so I am not a big ticket giver.”

Senior Arynn Duba was driving down Old Lockwood coming home from work when she rolled through a stop sign.

It was late at night and she just wanted to get home as quickly as possible. A police officer was

Tickets

• Annually, roughly 20.6% of drivers get a speeding ticket

• 112,328 tickets are given out daily

• Speeding tickets yield 3-4 points on a license right to the side of her and pulled her over.

“I started sobbing immediately. I had no idea what to do and all I wanted was to go home,” Duba said.

Duba found out her registration expired during the traffic stop and was ticketed for not having the correct paperwork and rolling through a stop sign.

“The officer was not nice during the traffic stop, but I know it was late at night and he probably just wanted to go home like I did,” Duba said.

Gil describes the best steps to take as follows: pull over to the right side of the road as quickly and safely as possible, put your car in park, roll your windows down, put your hands on top of the steering wheel, and listen and be respectful to the officer.

You should also make sure you know where your registration, proof of insurance and your license are to show the police officer.

Although all of these steps are important to follow, Gil believes the most important thing to remember is to be honest.

“We pull over a lot of cars daily, trust me, we have heard it all. No lie you tell us will work out in your favor,” Gil said. “If you are completely honest with us and seem interested in knowing what you did wrong and improving that, then you will get a warning unless it is a repetitive action.”

Costs

• 10-14 mph over: $204 to $279

• 15-19 mph over: $254 to $329

• 20-29 mph over: $279 to $354

• 30+ over: Up to $429

Wrecks

• Speeding-related deaths have increased by 17% since 2019

• 29% of accidents are caused by speeding

• Teens are more likely to crash than adults