Why This Georgia Speeding Ticket Was for $1.4 Million
While it might seem like just so much clickbait, it’s not. Police really did issue a speeding ticket for $1.4 million to a man in Georgia. The ticket was for going 90 mph in a 55-mile zone. That comes out to $40,000 for each mph above the 55-mile speed limit. Yikes!
When he got in contact with the court and told them the amount, they told him to either pay up or show up in court in December. The Georgian got the surprise ticket in September. “‘One-point-four million dollars,’ the lady told me on the phone,” the driver told WSAV-TV. “I said, ‘This might be a typo,’ and she said, ‘No sir, you either pay the amount on the ticket or you come to court on Dec. 21 at 1:30 p.m.'”
Would it be possible to get a speeding ticket for over $1 million?
But in Georgia, any speeding ticket above 35 mph requires a court visit. A judge is the ultimate determinator of the amount the ticket holder pays. What the City of Savannah says about the crazy ticket amount is the number is only a placeholder. It does not reflect the actual amount the violator will pay. In fact, the highest assessed fine cannot exceed $1,000, plus any processing and administrative costs.
Even misdemeanors involving violence don’t see bond amounts much higher than $5,000 in Georgia. But bonds for a million dollars are only for cases of drug trafficking, murder, or assault, said criminal defense attorney Sneh Patel to News3. Why the ticket didn’t have that figure as a placeholder, or better yet, no dollar amount, is anybody’s guess.
What’s a “super speeder?”
The driver is what Georgia calls a “super speeder.” That’s because of the amount over the speed limit he was cited for. During the ticket processing, the software plugs in $999,999 plus state-mandated costs. In this case, the figure comes out at $1.4 million.
“The city did not implement the placeholder amount in order to force or scare people into court,” the City of Savannah said to WSAV-TV. “The programmers who designed the software used the largest number possible because super speeder tickets are a mandatory court appearance and do not have a fine amount attached to them when issued by police.” Ah, say what?
Will the driver be happy with a $1,000 speeding ticket?
The driver is expecting to receive the maximum $1,000 amount, which, on reflection, seems like an actual bargain when you compare it to the original amount on the ticket. This may be the first speeding fine ever that a violator actually is happy to be paying.
