Full Notification

Citizens,

The State Legislature passed HB160 in March, creating the "Super Speeder" law so I wanted to take some time to explain what this means to you as a driver here in Georgia:

The new law states, in part:

(b) In addition to any other fines or penalties imposed by any local jurisdiction or the
department, the department shall administer and collect a fee of $200.00 from any driver who is convicted of driving at a speed of 85 miles per hour or more on any road or highway or 75 miles per hour or more on any two-lane road or highway, as defined in Code Section 40-6-187. Such a driver, upon conviction, shall be classified as a 'super speeder.'

(c) The department (DDS) shall notify offenders of the imposition of a fee under this Code section within 30 days after receipt of a qualifying ticket and notice of conviction. Failure to pay the fee imposed by this Code section within 90 days after receipt of the notice shall result in the suspension of the driver's license or driving privileges of the offender, and, in addition to the existing fees and penalties, a fee of $50.00 shall be assessed, payable upon the application for reinstatement of the driver's license or driving privileges. Notice shall be provided by the department to the offender by first-class mail to the address shown on the records of the department. Such mailed notice shall be adequate notification of the fee imposed by this Code section and of the offender's ability to avoid a driver's license suspension by paying the fee prior to the effective date of the suspension. No other notice shall be required to make the driver's license suspension effective.

As you can see, local jurisdictions will not be collecting the additional $200 fine during court under this law so many violators across the state are going to be surprised after paying their fine at the local court and then receiving a "bill" in the mail from the DDS for an additional $200. This would result in a total fine of $436 for a person convicted of driving 85 mph on Highway 74!

Again, I am providing this information to you because I don't think the State is the best at explaining such things to its citizens. I believe informing you will help to (1) keep it fresh in your mind to watch your speed, which will keep us all safer and (2) prevent you from receiving that notice from DDS in the first place.

The entire bill is available on the State's website at http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/pdf/hb160.pdf. The above section in on page 8 of the document.

Be Safe!