South Carolina among most lenient on speeding and reckless driving

The top 5 strictest states are Colorado, Arizona, Delaware, Illinois, and New Mexico. As tough as that might seem, the state isn’t even among the five strictest when it comes to enforcing speeding and reckless driving laws.

About a quarter of the states – including Texas – allow drivers ticketed for speeding to argue that their speed was “reasonable” regardless of what that roadside sign suggested.

On average, a speeding ticket in Texas only bumps up insurance costs about 12 percent.

Although the welcome signs on the state borders ask drivers to “Drive friendly, the Texas way”, the words “crazy”, “mean”, and “merciless” might be more common descriptors.

Smart said the department enforces compliance with all traffic laws through general patrol as well as setting up radar trailers to warn drivers when they are exceeding the speed limit.

Some of New Mexico’s penalties were scored as stricter than many other states, according to the WalletHub study. Our data set ranges from what speeds are automatically considered reckless driving to how many speeding tickets it takes to earn an automatic license suspension. Speeding is costly, too.

The study also found that people charged with reckless driving can expect to spend an average of at least one day in jail for their first offence and four days for their second offence.