Fast is fun! In the right places, anyway. Drop the hammer on, say, a 640-hp Porsche 911 Turbo S on a drag strip, and enjoy a raucous 10.1-second quarter-mile time. Do the same on a public road, and you'll run out of road faster than you can say, "I can feel the g-force in my stomach," then likely end up paying a hefty fine, in jail, or dead. When even Car and Driver — home of Brock Yates, co-creator of the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, where the point was to drive from New York to Los Angeles as quickly as possible — lists speeding among "the most dangerous things drivers do," you know it's not a matter of old fuddy-duddies trying to rein in fun.
Checking out Visual Capitalist's U.S. speeding ticket map, the priciest minimum speeding ticket is in California, where you'll pay at least $234. Next is Arizona at $231, followed by Nevada and Texas tied at $223, with Florida rounding out the top five with a minimum $204 ticket. At $203 minimum, North Carolina is the last state with a base ticket north of $200.
Then there are states that take it easy on your budget. The lowest 10-over ticket is a tie between New Mexico and Nebraska, at just $25. North Dakota ties with Montana for next cheapest at $40. Wow, between the $40 tickets and the low taxes, no wonder so many Montana residents own supercars. In Washington (the state), tickets start at $43, and in Washington (DC, the city), tickets are as low as $50. Only Utah sits at the national average of $130. By the way, these dollar amounts are the total for speeding plus court costs. (Data for the map comes from FinanceBuzz, which gathered speeding-ticket data from every state.)
Read more: These Are The Dumbest Car Crashes You've Ever Seen
Here's Where You're Most Likely Going To Get Caught
Just because a state slaps you with a speeding ticket that costs as much as dinner for two at a nice steakhouse doesn't mean it's likeliest to do so. According to Insurify, 8.7% of North Dakotans have speeding tickets on their record — more than double the national average of 4.1%. Sgt. Adam Malafa from the North Dakota State Highway Patrol told Insurify that doing 70 in a 55 costs a whopping $15, which may have something to do with the percentage. Maybe that pair of motorcyclists ticketed for 205 mph in Minnesota — among the fastest speeding tickets ever issued in the U.S. — didn't notice they'd crossed over from North Dakota and figured they'd get a slap on the wrist.
Wait, FinanceBuzz says minimum tickets in North Dakota are $40. Head to North Dakota's Vision Zero website, where they're trying to cut traffic deaths, and the fee for exceeding the speed limit is "Varies." Perhaps court costs are $25? School-zone speeding tickets start at $40, though, which is a bargain. Oh, no, that's not a good way to put that.
Wisconsin and Ohio are next likeliest, tied at 7.8% of drivers with speeding tickets. FinanceBuzz lists ticket minimums in Wisconsin as $175 and Ohio as $121, meaning speeding in these states might just be for the love of the game, costs be darned. Iowa and Idaho are tied at 7.1%, and Wyoming is next at 6.8%.
As for the least-ticket-happy states, Simmrin Law Group pulled data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and found that only 1.78% of Connecticut drivers have speeding tickets, followed by Pennsylvania (2.54%), Texas (2.55%), Florida (2.79%), and Michigan (2.83%). Models of restraint, you states are.
The Hidden Costs Of Speeding Tickets
What the ticket amounts don't reflect is what they do to your insurance premiums. AAA calculated numbers from Insurance.com, finding that a ticket of up to 29 mph over the limit can increase your rates anywhere from 26% to 34%. Hit 30 mph over, and a ticket can raise your rates by 43%.
Sure, with mitigating circumstances and differences between insurers, vehicle types, driver age, location, and other factors, there will be variances in your ultimate cost ramification. But it's not like your premiums are going to stay flat or go down after getting a ticket. Plus, that ticket will be on your record anywhere from three to five years. Thankfully, all you have to do to get fewer tickets in the future is buy a domestic car, as the top 10 most ticketed cars are all foreign brands.
Admittedly, "speeding" and "speed limits" aren't the same thing. Drive the speed limit on bald tires in the rain and see how terrifying it is. Drive the speed limit in a C8 Corvette ZR1 on a deserted straight and see how boring it is. CNBC quoted Jay Beeber, executive director at Safer Streets L.A., as saying, "People drive the way the road is built, that's what happens. And doing anything else in terms of speed limits is just simply wasting your time."
Regarding speed's impact on fatalities, the NHTSA says, "In 2023, speeding killed 11,775 people. The European Transportation Safety Council reports "25% more deaths on sections of the [German] Autobahn without speed limits compared to those with a limit." There's no doubt high-speed impacts are deadly, as seen when "Mythbusters" crashed a car at 50 mph (crushed engine bay) and 100 mph (transformed into cube). Drive safe, everyone!
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