Wednesday, Feb. 19, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, proposed SB137 which also excludes such tickets from a demerit system that can cost people their drivers' licenses if they get too many points.
The bill, referred to the Senate Transportation Committee for debate, also bars insurers from raising rates based on such violations.
Rhoads said Wednesday the debate is warranted because "in most cases, if someone is caught for going 78 or 82 miles an hour, that shouldn't go on their driving record and they shouldn't have to pay a big, healthy fine."
His SB137 is a variation on the state's "energy-wasting" tickets which resulted in pocket-change fines for drivers who exceeded the old, federally mandated 55-mph limit.
After the double-nickel limit was imposed in 1974, Nevada came up with a $15 energy-wasting ticket and no license demerits for anyone caught driving at speeds up to 70 mph in the 55-mph zones.
But when the limit was pushed up to as high as 75 mph in late 1995 on certain Nevada highways, the energy-wasting tickets vanished too.
Nevada's limits on much of Interstate 80 in northern Nevada and part of I-15 in southern Nevada went up to 75. Elsewhere, limits aren't as high and in some places there are multiple speed zones in short stretches.
For example, a 50-mile drive along U.S. 395 from Reno south to the California state line presents eight speed zones ranging from 45 mph to 70.
No matter what the limits are, speeds of up to 10 mph above those limits would result in the cheap fines, under Rhoads' bill.
The 10-mph cushion is similar to what many drivers perceive as a margin that many police officers and troopers will give them anyway before tickets are written. However, the Nevada Highway Patrol has cautioned people against making that assumption - especially on the routes posted as high as 75 mph.
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