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Punishment for Teen's Speeding Tickets?


michellew

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I am so furious right now! :mad: I was just doing an online city traffic citation search and discovered my 17 year old son already has two speeding tickets (44 in a 30 and 51 in a 40)! He has only had his vehicle for 3 months. Is this normal for a teenage male???

 

Normal or not, there will be consequences! I'm thinking no vehicle for 2 weeks. Or is one month better? He doesn't know it yet, but he will also be job hunting this weekend to pay for these tickets and the hike in insurance I'm about to receive.

 

Grrr...I'm so mad!!! What upsets me even more is that he hasn't even shown me or told me about the tickets. Was he just going to ignore them, miss his court dates, and have a warrant put out?? It's a good thing I caught them in time. He has a lot of explaining to do when he gets home.

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Well,in my case, I was a speed demon, and most of my friends were too.

 

Had like 3 tickets my first 2 months for speeding (luckily they didn't call it street racing.) That was at the age of 16. Then there was that one time I was doing 100 in a 30. Wooo, 3 cop cars blocked me in after I stopped. Officers with guns drawn. I was just trying to get back from the Rocky Horror Picture Show as quickly as possible. I mean it was like 2 in the morning, nobody on the road, and it was down hill. I think that was when I was 17. Almost lost my license cause of that one.

 

Yes, make him responsible for paying his share of everything. That could be enough punishment, making him do the adult thing. Make sure you stop paying for anything, no gas money, no repairs, if it's his car make it his responsibility.

 

Do that, and I wouldn't take the car away, I'd ground him for a month for not telling you about the tickets.

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Take the car away until he is 18.

 

I agree with this. He really doesn't seem responsible enough.

 

Two speeding tickets in his first three months of driving? And he was going at least ten miles over the limit both times? And he never told you? He is not responsible enough to have a car.

 

Please take him off the road so that he doesn't hurt anyone. I'm serious.

 

He's a bad driver.

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Teens are horrible drivers. I would take his car away for a lot longer than 2 weeks. Teen drivers can barely be trusted to function as it is...your son has proven he doesn't even deserve that little bit of trust. Ugh I hate teen drivers.

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He doesn't know it yet, but he will also be job hunting this weekend to pay for these tickets and the hike in insurance I'm about to receive.

 

Remove him from your insurance.

 

He screwed up. He can pay for his own car insurance.

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Remove him from your insurance.

 

He screwed up. He can pay for his own car insurance.

 

Yea why doesn't he do this already?

 

You can't exactly expect him to act responsibly if you fail to make him be responsible. Make him suffer a consequence.

 

Personally I'd be more concerned for his safety...but that's just me.

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I think loss of the car for a while & an obligation to pay for his own insurance are in order. You should also make him pay the tickets. Consider going to court you may be able to plead the tickets down so the insurance points are less.

 

Making him watch the consequences for more serious offenses like DWI should also send a good sobering message.

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Ha, my parent's wouldn't allow me to buy a car (which I already had the cash to buy) until I could pay the insurance, which in the mid-70's was about 250 per year for their coverages. Hence, it was a lot of after-school jobs to pay for the privilege of driving, which beat the heck out of riding the bike or taking the bus! I can't imagine getting all that handed out on a platter. Lucky kids!

 

If it were my son, I'd disable the car, tell him to rob his savings to buy a bike (easy to find a nice road bike for 15-20 bucks at a garage sale) and look forward to working for awhile to pay off those tickets and expect to be paying his own insurance premiums. Since insurance is paid in advance, when he has the money, add him back to the policy.

 

Expect him to not like it! Tuition at school of hard knocks! :D

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Ha, my parent's wouldn't allow me to buy a car (which I already had the cash to buy) until I could pay the insurance, which in the mid-70's was about 250 per year for their coverages. Hence, it was a lot of after-school jobs to pay for the privilege of driving, which beat the heck out of riding the bike or taking the bus! I can't imagine getting all that handed out on a platter. Lucky kids!

 

If it were my son, I'd disable the car, tell him to rob his savings to buy a bike (easy to find a nice road bike for 15-20 bucks at a garage sale) and look forward to working for awhile to pay off those tickets and expect to be paying his own insurance premiums. Since insurance is paid in advance, when he has the money, add him back to the policy.

 

Expect him to not like it! Tuition at school of hard knocks! :D

 

In New Jersey every licensed driver must be insured.

 

So here the only alternative to that would be not to renew his license when he is 18 or throw him out of the house.

 

Actually and I'm not sure how it works where this young man lives but here he may be penalized even heavier by the state because he's on a provisional license.

 

17 year olds aren't allowed to drive between the hours of 11 PM and 6 AM and can only have one non-family member as a passenger at any time.

 

He may face stiffer penalties for speeding.

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I think loss of the car for a while & an obligation to pay for his own insurance are in order. You should also make him pay the tickets. Consider going to court you may be able to plead the tickets down so the insurance points are less.

 

Making him watch the consequences for more serious offenses like DWI should also send a good sobering message.

 

I agree with d0nnivain that your son needs to experience the direct consequences of his actions: if he has a job, he pays off his own tickets, pays for his own car insurance and no car for at least a month. Make him take the city bus while he pays for the tickets and car insurance.

 

But if your son doesn't have a job, then immediately sign him up for a class at traffic school in your city after you get it approved at traffic court (they offer court-approved courses to dismiss speeding tickets), if he doesn't have a job to pay off the tickets himself.

 

If you wait too long the tickets will go into collections IN YOUR NAME.

 

There is also something called "Sentence to Service" (it may be a different name in your city but that's what it's called in my city) that your city's county office offers people who can't pay back their parking/speeding tickets/license reinstatement. Basically, your son will have to go to the county to meet with a county worker to sign up for sentence to service. Then he will spend 7 hours a day for a week or longer with others driven around by a county worker in a white van to chip ice off bus stops, rake leaves, pick up highway litter or go to neighborhoods to pickup litter off the streets or city parks. Anywhere you see people on the side of the road or in parks with those orange fluorescent vests on is probably someone who is doing county work to pay off their tickets. This may be a good option for him because if he can't afford to pay for his own car insurance or pay off his parking tickets, this will teach him not to take for granted that his parents give him a car to use.

Edited by writergal
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I just checked and two moving violations on a probationary license isn't looking too good for him.

 

In my state he could be revoked.

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Haven't had a chance to skim all replies, but here's what I've decided:

 

1. He is only going to be able to use his vehicle to get to/from school and future job (which he will start looking for tomorrow.)

2. He currently has $400 left in his savings. (He saved up money before getting a car because he knew it would be impossible to work during marching season and his course workload--he is an A student taking college courses and AP classes in high school.) This $400 is going to be used to take defensive driving and pay his tickets. I am not paying for them.

3. After paying for the tickets, he will have enough money left over for maybe a tank or two of gas. I told him he better hurry up and find a job or he won't have gas to get anywhere, as I will not be paying for it (I never have actually--as stated above, he had money saved for gas.)

4. I also told him that after our insurance policy expires in Mid-December, he will be removed from my policy and will be responsible for his own insurance. (This is the only thing I had been paying for.) This will also provide a sense of urgency to find a job. I told him he will have no car without insurance.

 

We are going to the bank today to turn his savings into a checking account and get rolling with all of the above.

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That sounds like a reasonable plan. Hopefully your son will appreciate this life lesson after he finds himself a part-time after school job.

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You plan sounds good.

 

As they get to the teen years, and especially so close to 18, I prefer to think of it as letting them find their own solutions rather than "punishment". Obviously, the tickets present a problem for him: the fines, the insurance, the broken trust. What's his plan of action? How is he going to solve these problems? See what response and ideas he has, and guide from there (laying down hard boundaries as necessary).

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You plan sounds good.

 

As they get to the teen years, and especially so close to 18, I prefer to think of it as letting them find their own solutions rather than "punishment". Obviously, the tickets present a problem for him: the fines, the insurance, the broken trust. What's his plan of action? How is he going to solve these problems? See what response and ideas he has, and guide from there (laying down hard boundaries as necessary).

 

Bolded is excellent advice! The OP seems to have confronted this matter in a way that suits the best results.

One of my parents often asked upfront what I thought was a fair restitution for the behavior or actions that created my stepping up and accepting responsibility. It made it clear that I was in essence having to accept the consequences and learn to discipline myself, for that is the deal with turning into an adult.

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Yea why doesn't he do this already?.

 

When we bought him the car, I knew he wouldn't be able to work due to his marching band schedule and course workload. We made the agreement that if he maintained good grades, I would pay for insurance and he would pay for gas/maintainence. He had about $800 saved for this by working odd jobs around the neighborhood (painting curb numbers, dog poop pick-up, lawn mowing, etc). He still has $400 left to get him through February, but now it will all go towards his tickets and defensive driving. He has no other choice but to get a job now that I am cutting him off from insurance and he's depleting his savings. Luckily marching season just ended and he will now have the time to work.

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Make him take that course to get one of them off his insurance at least. But yes, it's common for teens to get tickets and speed. He wasn't speeding all that bad at least, not going 90 or something at least. But I do think police are sometimes vigilant where teens are concerned and ticket them a lot. His insurance is already high because he's a young male, the highest category, and now it will be higher. He should either lose his car for a couple of weeks or keep the car to get to what will be his new part-time job to pay for his own expensive insurance. I'm saying the latter will teach him more.

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I definitely would NOT consider this normal.

 

 

I'm 25 and have never had a speeding ticket, and never been pulled over.

 

 

2 in 3 months definitely warrants some action being taken.

 

 

 

 

ETA: I see you returned with your plan. I think it's good!

Edited by Phoe
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As they get to the teen years, and especially so close to 18, I prefer to think of it as letting them find their own solutions rather than "punishment".

 

^ I like this!

I think providing you don't step in and sort it for him, which your not doing, then speeding tickets are, by their nature, a punishment in themselves! That is the point of them after all!

 

I've got a friend who's had issue with speeding tickets recently - couple yeas older than your son but got herself 2 in the past 4 months - I have a fair bit of sympathy for her the first time being just a fraction over the limit at 5am and the second being pulled over on a road where the police were doing a watch and getting ticketed - same place another friend got pulled over later that day and got let off after giving it some waterworks!

I feel sorry for her because she probably hasn't done anything I haven't done but I've been luckier. Your sons speeds aren't boy racer excessive to make you really worried, he's probably a safe driver, but they are high - he's not being caught out by a couple of mph - and it's his attitude to that I'd be most interested it! Does he feel bad about speeding or bad about getting flashed?

 

Over here you get the opportunity to trade your first speeding ticket & points for doing a speed awearness day course thing! Tbh I think they should probably make all new drivers do it! I work in the fire and rescue service so I see the real thing day in day out - I don't think the sight of a mangled car will ever stop making my blood run cold - because it's such a normal thing, we all drive, we all check our speed sometimes and realise we've creeped up sometimes... But your putting a weapon in someone's hands - a car can kill, and I've seen it too much... And the difference is that the higher the speed your travelling at you don't even give yourself a chance (or anyone you hit)!

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It sounds like a good plan expect I would keep him on your insurance rider and have him pay you the difference.

 

If he gets it on his own his price will most likely be exorbitant. Have you priced the difference?

 

Also I think you would have sign the car over to him if it is currently under your name.

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DrReplyInRhymes

I'm breaking my own rules for this post. As trying to reply to this in rhyme is quite hard, and it's something I'm fairly well versed in (Insurance industry), I'd like to share a few points:

 

I'd also like to point out that if you have an insurance agent, that would be the guy to talk to! He will know more specific information regarding your state/company.

 

Referring to my own state and rules and a few bits of factual information:

 

If he owns the car outright (with no other co-owner), you must be a co-owner of his vehicle, or he must own his own insurance policy regardless of the address listed on the policy. Although he can be listed as on operator on YOUR policy, with HIS vehicle, having this situation occur is grounds for the insurance company to DENY any claim made on the policy where he is a driver since he is the OWNER of the vehicle! The very first thing the insurance company checks in the event of a loss (claim) is who the registered owner of the car is. If he is the sole owner, and he is listed on someone else's policy, the very real solution for the insurance company is to deny the claim as it is written within the first couple pages of the declarations page of your policy that the only the owner of the policy only has insurable interest on the vehicles in their name, and it is upon you as the consumer to actually read this information and abide by it. (A good insurance agent will advise you what your options are with the information provided. If you don't let the agent know that your son owns the vehicle outright, that is on you, not the insurance agent...according to the company. I've seen it happen.)

 

Another useful bit of information is what kind of policy you have. If you have a high-risk policy, the MVR of each driver is ordered on an annual basis. This means that your very next policy could have the insurance increase due to increased MVR incidents. The GOOD news is that speeding tickets generally do not increase your policy very much (in my state...). At-fault accidents are another story.

 

As such, my advice to you would be to speak with your local insurance agent (a good one please) to discuss your best options. Please also keep in mind that insurance history (continuous prior insurance) is the single most deciding factor in insurance price. If you want to help your son in teaching him a lesson AND being able to not screw him in terms of insurance pricing, I would suggest you do the following:

 

1) Make him have his own insurance policy. If your agent does it correctly, he can take his vehicle, your insurance history (since he was on that policy), and have his own policy regardless if he still lives with you. You may be required to sign an exclusion form that will basically state there will be no insurance provided should he get into an accident with your vehicle. This will also teach him the idiocy behind financing a car more than 10 years old and having to pay full coverage insurance - often a high priced option. Without diving into why you're throwing money away using that avenue, you're throwing money away using that avenue.

 

2) Register the vehicle under your name as co-owner, then keep him on the policy as is, and be sure to charge him for the difference. (if there is even a difference, depending on your state and policy, the insurance company may not re-order your MVR until an accident occurs, which means the insurance company will simply not know about the speeding tickets....and not charge for them!) This will certainly be the cheapest of all options, but will also keep you as a plan B per se in case he defaults on any liability caused with his vehicle. (For example, he gets into an accident, owes $15,000 for liability, and defaults on payments. The next responsible party is co-owner of the vehicle...in this case, YOU.) Please recognize this risk, and it is indeed a large risk you would be accepting for your son.

 

As explained, I have a bit of knowledge in this industry and would like to share it so you can make an informed decision.

 

Best of wishes to you and your son.

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I'm breaking my own rules for this post. As trying to reply to this in rhyme is quite hard, and it's something I'm fairly well versed in (Insurance industry), I'd like to share a few points:

 

I'd also like to point out that if you have an insurance agent, that would be the guy to talk to! He will know more specific information regarding your state/company.

 

Referring to my own state and rules and a few bits of factual information:

 

If he owns the car outright (with no other co-owner), you must be a co-owner of his vehicle, or he must own his own insurance policy regardless of the address listed on the policy. Although he can be listed as on operator on YOUR policy, with HIS vehicle, having this situation occur is grounds for the insurance company to DENY any claim made on the policy where he is a driver since he is the OWNER of the vehicle! The very first thing the insurance company checks in the event of a loss (claim) is who the registered owner of the car is. If he is the sole owner, and he is listed on someone else's policy, the very real solution for the insurance company is to deny the claim as it is written within the first couple pages of the declarations page of your policy that the only the owner of the policy only has insurable interest on the vehicles in their name, and it is upon you as the consumer to actually read this information and abide by it. (A good insurance agent will advise you what your options are with the information provided. If you don't let the agent know that your son owns the vehicle outright, that is on you, not the insurance agent...according to the company. I've seen it happen.)

 

Another useful bit of information is what kind of policy you have. If you have a high-risk policy, the MVR of each driver is ordered on an annual basis. This means that your very next policy could have the insurance increase due to increased MVR incidents. The GOOD news is that speeding tickets generally do not increase your policy very much (in my state...). At-fault accidents are another story.

 

As such, my advice to you would be to speak with your local insurance agent (a good one please) to discuss your best options. Please also keep in mind that insurance history (continuous prior insurance) is the single most deciding factor in insurance price. If you want to help your son in teaching him a lesson AND being able to not screw him in terms of insurance pricing, I would suggest you do the following:

 

1) Make him have his own insurance policy. If your agent does it correctly, he can take his vehicle, your insurance history (since he was on that policy), and have his own policy regardless if he still lives with you. You may be required to sign an exclusion form that will basically state there will be no insurance provided should he get into an accident with your vehicle. This will also teach him the idiocy behind financing a car more than 10 years old and having to pay full coverage insurance - often a high priced option. Without diving into why you're throwing money away using that avenue, you're throwing money away using that avenue.

 

2) Register the vehicle under your name as co-owner, then keep him on the policy as is, and be sure to charge him for the difference. (if there is even a difference, depending on your state and policy, the insurance company may not re-order your MVR until an accident occurs, which means the insurance company will simply not know about the speeding tickets....and not charge for them!) This will certainly be the cheapest of all options, but will also keep you as a plan B per se in case he defaults on any liability caused with his vehicle. (For example, he gets into an accident, owes $15,000 for liability, and defaults on payments. The next responsible party is co-owner of the vehicle...in this case, YOU.) Please recognize this risk, and it is indeed a large risk you would be accepting for your son.

 

As explained, I have a bit of knowledge in this industry and would like to share it so you can make an informed decision.

 

Best of wishes to you and your son.

 

Thanks for all of this!! I know it must have taken a while to type up. I appreciate it!

 

The car title is actually in my name and I paid $8000 for it up front. No financing was involved. Right now, both of our names and both of our vehicles are on one policy. This policy comes out to $262/month (statefarm and we live in TX). Before I added him and the extra vehicle, I was paying $102/month for my car only. So basically I am paying $160 more now for his. Would you suggest keeping him on mine, but having him pay me the $161/month? Our rate is actually going to go down at the start of our renewal in December for 3 reasons: 1)renewal discount, 2)I am taking a DD course online to get a discount, and 3)he is almost done with the teen steer clear program. (We will continue to get multiple driver discounts and his drivers Ed discount).

 

As for the traffic tickets, I don't think they will affect us at all, as I have a new update to my last one! I went to an attorney's office today and used $100 of his savings to hire the attorney to have the tickets dismissed.

 

Also another update...Job hunting went well this weekend and he has a good chance of being hired at a very big retail chain! :)

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