House panel OKs measures to limit leniency for speeders

A House committee voted Saturday to strengthen a bill aimed at reining in district attorneys and judges who legislators agree have been too forgiving of speeders.

The committee approved an amendment that would prevent drivers charged with speeding more than 25 mph over the limit from pleading guilty to "improper equipment -- speedometer," a plea that saves their driver's license and prevents their insurance company from assessing a surcharge. The committee also said judges couldn't give those speeders a "prayer for judgment continued." A PJC is the next best thing to a dismissal.

The Senate had voted to establish that cutoff at more than 30 mph over the limit.

Rep. Jennifer Weiss, a Democrat from Cary who is a vice chairman of the Judiciary II Committee, said she was uncomfortable with allowing the courts to give breaks to drivers who were going, say, 65 in a 35 mph zone.

"Thirty miles per hour over is really excessive," she said.

In past years, the General Assembly has enacted harsh penalties for speeding while creating loopholes allowing speeders to escape punishment.

Most do, including high-speed drivers and chronic speeders.

In a four-part series published in May, The News & Observer reported that only 2.4 percent of those accused of driving above 55 mph and more than 15 mph over the limit were being convicted as charged.

The overwhelming majority saved their licenses -- and avoided an insurance surcharge -- by getting a PJC from a judge or getting a district attorney to reduce the charge or dismiss the case.

In some prosecutorial districts, more than half of drivers charged with driving 90 mph or more were given a PJC or were allowed to enter the lesser plea of improper equipment. Or the case was dismissed.

About 30 percent of all speeding charges in North Carolina are being pleaded down to improper equipment, and that percentage is increasing each year.

Some of the improper equipment pleas are for mufflers, which the bill under consideration does not cover. It isn't necessary, of course, to actually have a broken speedometer or muffler to plead guilty to having one.

The Senate voted 49-1 in May to eliminate the worst of the abuses.

The Senate bill, which the House committee endorsed, would also:

* Require the Division of Motor Vehicles to record convictions that have been reduced to "improper equipment -- speedometer." Under current law, prosecutors can't tell from a DMV driving record how many breaks a defendant has already received.

* Allow drivers to get only two reductions to "improper equipment -- speedometer" in a five-year period. Under current law, there is no limit. In the five years ending in June of last year, 36,099 drivers charged with speeding were given three or more improper equipment citations, according to an N&O analysis of data from the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.