Things to remember...

...if you’re ever stopped in New Jersey for speeding (or any other moving violation).

Speeding is an excusable offence if you have a reason for speeding (like say you’re late for an appointment):

Speed must be put into context, “as to whether there was a reason to be going that fast at the time.”

In Governor Corzine’s case it was the context was he was running late, late for a meeting between Imus and the Rutgers’ Women’s Basketball Team. Sounds like a real emergency for the state of New Jersey to me. Who knows what peril will befall the state because of the Governor’s absence at that meeting?

State Police Superintendent Joseph “Rick” Fuentes said the trooper driving Gov. Jon S. Corzine did not realize he was going 91 mph last Thursday night...

Let’s put it this way, you get nailed for driving 91 mph in a 65 mph zone and chances are they are going to take your license away. Take a look at this, pulled directly from New Jersey’s DMV site. You think the trooper was going 91 in a 65, I have a feeling he might have been going even faster but if he was it becomes an even bigger deal (looks at the points). Any driver in a similar set of circumstances could have been guaranteed to face some if not all of the violations below:

statute	description	points
39:4–52	Racing on highway	5
39:4–96	Reckless driving	5
39:4–97.2	Driving in an unsafe manner (points only assessed for the third or subsequent violation(s) within a five-year period)	4
39:4–99	Exceeding maximum speed 15-29 mph over limit	4
	Exceeding maximum speed 30 mph or more over limit	5

Hey, the other rub in all of this is the fact that the governor wasn’t wearing his seatbelt!

New Jersey’s Seat Belt Law: (NJS 39:3-76.2f)

• Applies to all passenger vehicles including vans, pickup trucks and SUV's, that are required to be equipped with seat belts.


• Applies to all passengers, who are at least 8 years of age but less than 18 years of age, and each driver and front seat passenger of a passenger automobile, operated on a street or highway. All occupants are required to wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt system.


• Makes the driver responsible for proper seat belt use by all occupants who are under the age of 18.

Seems to me, any driver other than a New Jersey state trooper driving a vehicle in that manner would wind up getting tickets up the wa-zoo and under these circumstance, you would think at the very least the guy should lose his job. I imagine the reason the governor has a State Trooper assigned to him as a driver is to afford him a modicum of protection?

Let us not forget, originally the accident was blamed on a mysterious hit and run vehicle involved in the accident:

Police have said the series of events leading to the accident began when the driver of the red truck saw the SUV’s flashing lights, pulled too far off to the right shoulder to give it room and then jerked back into the roadway, causing the white truck to swerve and strike the governor’s Suburban.

Fuentes, who initially said last Thursday night that speed was not a factor in the accident, had a different analysis today.

“Speed is always a contributing factor in any accident. It goes to the heart of what damage you may have on the vehicle,” Fuentes said in a conference call with reporters.

D’uh!

Still, you have to appreciate the flagrant disregard for the rules of the road by the very people who are charged to enforce them.