How can this be legal?

Optimus Prime said

I guess the question is how you can take away someone's license for one infraction in an otherwise clean record.

Just for speeding, didn't run a red light, didn't cause an accident, wasn;t drunk or high, was just going too fast.

Fines, points, that okay and to be expected but a 6 month suspension? that seems beyond excessive to me.

I understand that 80mph in DC is hugely reckless, dangerous, and odds are that some one or thing will get hurt or damaged.

That said, it's nearly impossible to go 80 in DC on any street at any time of day. If you find a way to somehow go 80 in DC you probably should get a suspension.

But 80 on a rural Virginia highway is completely different. Especially since the posted limit was 70mph and not 40.

I just think that it's overboard and wrong.

Click to expand...

The problem has little to do with 80 mph. It really has to do with DC giving reciprocal effect to another jurisdiction's charge of reckless driving to apply DC's sanction for reckless driving: automatic suspension. But while in DC the automatic suspension may be reasonable given the standards for charging a driver with reckless driving in DC(those standards are very strong if you read it closely), it leads to an unreasonable result when a reckless charge from another jurisdiction with a lower, less culpable standard (i.e. 80 mph is per se reckless) is given the equivalency of the DC standard and the same penalty applied.

That's the heart of the problem. The VA officer didn't apply the DC standard in determining the offense. But the harsh DC penalty that corresponds to that standard is still being applied.