Short Answer: $85 and 3 points on your driving record.
Types of Speeding Tickets in Idaho
- 'Basic Rule' Violation
- Definition: A basic speeding ticket is when you're going between 1 and 15 miles per hour over the posted limit, or faster than is 'reasonable and prudent' (Idaho Code 49-654).
- Penalty: This ticket will cost you $90, whether you pay it right away or contest it. There is no additional penalty for going to trial. This will also add 3 points to your Idaho driving record.
- Excessive Speeding
- Definition: Going 16 or more mph over the posted limit (but at a certain point, the speed can be high enough that an officer decides a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving is more appropriate).
- Penalty: $155 and 4 points on your Idaho driving record. A prosecutor may be willing to amend this charge to basic speeding, depending on the facts and your prior record.
- Speeding in a Construction Zone
- Definition: Exceeding the posted speed limit while in a designated work zone (Idaho Code 49-657).
- Penalty: $106.50 and 3 points on your Idaho driving record. As mentioned above, a prosecutor might be willing to reduce this to regular speeding.
- Speeding in a School Zone
- Definition: Exceeding the posted speed limit in a posted school zone (Idaho Code 49-658).
- Penalty: $156.50 and points on your Idaho driving record. As above, a prosecutor might be willing to reduce this to regular speeding.
Posted Speed Limits and 'Faster than is Reasonable and Prudent'
- Posted speed limits are maximums
- They apply "when no special hazard or condition exists that requires lower speed for compliance with subsection 1" which prohibits traveling "at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions."
- You can get a speeding ticket even if you're going under the posted limit
- If the conditions are such that it would be 'reasonable and prudent' to be going slower than the posted limit, like on a snowy day when the roads are slick, then you can still get a speeding ticket if the officer feels that your speed is unreasonable or imprudent.
- However, this type of case is more subjective than exceeding the posted limit, so there is more room for reasonable doubt if it goes to trial. The prosecutor bears the burden of proof, but a person's defense could include their driving experience, vehicle equipment (snow tires), etc. to show that their speed actually was reasonable despite the conditions that the officer felt warranted a lower speed.
Fine Amounts
- Effective as of July 1, 2012.
- Listed in the Infraction Fee Schedule.
- Posted in the 'rules' section of the Idaho Supreme Court's website: http://www.isc.idaho.gov/problem-solving/idaho-court-rules
