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Nancy Moseley doesn't really remember the crash. She and her mother, Sue Moseley, had been arguing all morning. Nancy Moseley had moved to Brunswick County to look after her, but she was desperate to get out of the house that day. She grabbed her car keys and headed to the beach.

She soaked up the sun as she cleared her head. That's the last image she has of July 13, 2006.

Joe Williams came through Southport after visiting a neighbor at a local hospital. He was headed to the next town over to see another friend about church matters, said his widow, Ann Williams.

Less than a mile shy of a busy commercial intersection in Southport, Moseley and Williams met. Moseley crossed the center line and rammed into Williams' truck.

Ann Williams was in a nearby store when she heard a chorus of ambulance and fire truck sirens. She said a silent prayer that whoever was in the accident would be OK.

It would be five hours before she knew the sirens blared in an attempt to save her husband.

Joe Williams and Moseley were unconscious for days. Williams' wife and Moseley's mother -- friends from church -- ran into each other in the waiting area for the intensive-care unit at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. It took several minutes before they realized their loved ones had collided.

The first thing Nancy Moseley can recall is seeing a state trooper at her bedside. He filled in the gaps of the accident for her.

"That man died, didn't he?" she asked the trooper before he could break it to her. Moseley collapsed against the bed and wept as he charged her with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.

Her guilty plea put her under a probation officer's close watch and cost Moseley her right to drive.

Many get off light

Eight times before, officers had charged Moseley with driving too fast. Three times, she was going 15 mph or more over the speed limit.

In all but one case, a lawyer negotiated with the prosecutor or judge to have the charges dismissed or lowered. Twice, they allowed her to blame her fast driving on a broken speedometer.

Speeding drivers usually don't kill anybody. Otherwise, Moseley's case is similar to thousands of others. Troopers, police officers and deputy sheriffs keep catching speeders, but the courts don't do much to penalize them -- even for dangerously high speeds.

Last year, only 19 percent of drivers ticketed at 100 mph or above were convicted as charged.

Clay, leader of the Highway Patrol, says what the courts do is not his business.

"We make it clear to the troopers, 'Your job is to take enforcement action on clear-cut violations of the law,' " he said. "Our job is not to manage the court system."

Responsibility for punishing speeders is blurred. Legislators approved harsh penalties and then shot them full of holes. Prosecutors and judges apply the laws unevenly. The agency that operates the court system says all it can do is ask for more money.

"It's kind of a mess, isn't it?" said Gregg C. Stahl, senior deputy director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. He said penalties are so stiff that no one is willing to accept them.

Ralph A. Walker, a retired Superior Court and Court of Appeals judge, is the AOC director.

"District attorneys and judges are elected," Walker said. "We can point out statistics to these elected officials and the legislature -- but you know, at that point, it's up to the judges, the DAs, to adjust their policies, or the legislature to mandate a change in administration of the traffic laws."

Mild speeding ignored

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