Jessica Hodges thought she was in labor, so she set off to the hospital in her car to try to get there in time. She was pulled over by police for going 57mph in a 35mph zone and charged with reckless driving.
Could the cop not see tell she was in labor? Maybe he didn’t believe her. Still she was detained long enough for the reckless driving ticket to be issued before she was able to make it to the hospital. Luckily, it was a false alarm.
She was found guilty of the charge of reckless driving. She was one of the first people in Virginia to be hit with an “abusive driver fee” of $1050 on top of the $100 fine for the ticket and the court costs.
The “abusive driver fees” range from $700 to $3000 and were designed to pay for Virginia’s transportation projects. And who better to pay for transportation projects than pregnant women on the way to the hospital?
I’m not the only one who thinks the fees are ridiculous. There have been 170,000 signatures to an online petition to repeal the fees. Even two Virginia judges have found them to be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. If you don’t live in Virginia, they can not collect the outrageous fees from you, so they are only raping their own with these fees.
Hodges plans to appeal her conviction. She says she was rushed in court and did not get a chance to explain to the judge the circumstances of why she was speeding. She hopes to have the opportunity to explain to a new judge, who she also hopes will dismiss the case.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Jared // Aug 14, 2007 at 11:43 pm
That cop is still mad cause he went to the prom stag. When did common sense get so uncommon.
2 Mud // Aug 15, 2007 at 3:07 pm
I like the fact that apparently, it was okay for her to be driving in the first place when she was thinking that she was going INTO FUCKING LABOR. I just imagine that were that actually the case, that first contraction would be followed with her jerking the wheel and mashing down on the accelerator.
For those of you with poor reading comprehension: SHE DELIBERATELY MADE HERSELF A DANGER TO EVERYONE ELSE BY DRIVING IN THAT PRESUMED CONDITION (presumed condition being actual labor).
She demonstrated the lack of common sense the second she thought it a good idea to drive while going into labor.
3 Gerri // Aug 15, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Ok, well she believes she is going into labor and tries to get to the hospital as quickly as possible so the baby isn’t born without medical supervision. I bet she’s a good mom too.
Being in labor doesnt automatically cause you to be incapitated. The delivery, yes, probably. But just the onset of labor would not necessarily render her incapable of driving herself to the hospital. Nor would it make her a danger to others. Note that the cop wrote her the ticket and then ALLOWED HER TO CONTINUE DRIVING to the hospital. If she were writhing in pain and unable to control the vehicle he would have called an ambulance. She was written the ticket for reckless driving because of the SPEED that she was driving, not that she was driving badly or in a dangerous manner (besides speeding).
You know, if I were in labor and needed immediate attention - fuck waiting for an ambulance - I would most certainly drive myself if there was no one else available to drive me.
And furthermore, they would not be getting $1050 out of me in civil penalty fees. This girl should have stood up for herself in court.
The cop was a total ass for writing her a ticket for reckless driving - on the way to the hospital to have a baby!
4 crash courses // Aug 16, 2007 at 3:51 am
The police officer should be sacked. Any police officer willing to potentially put the mother and unborn baby’s lives at greater risk should not be in a trusted position.
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