Sometimes, I get asked, “Can I be sent to jail for my speeding offence?” Usually, the answer to that question is no. Jail is not an option for your typical speeding matter.
Most typical speeding offences are what we call Fine-Only matters. What that means is the worst that a court can do to you is give you a monetary fine, deduct some demerit points, and maybe impose a disqualification or suspension of your licence for a period of time. But for a basic speeding offence, jail is not on the cards.
There are some situations though where a person is so far over the speed limit that they’re actually committing a more serious offence. Something like driving at a speed or or driving in a manner that is dangerous to the public are examples of this. These examples are a criminal matter and people can be sent to jail for those offences.
If you’ve received a court attendance notice for one of those more serious offences, I don’t want you to panic. Being sent to jail for something like that is quite rare, particularly for a first-time offender.
What it means though is that if you are going to court for a more serious speeding matter, it’s a good idea to seek some legal advice rather than try to look after it yourself. This is just to make sure that you’re not in that very small group of people who may find themselves with a more serious penalty.
So to answer the original question, usually, no, you’re not going to jail for a speeding offence. If you have got a ticket or a court attendance notice though, feel free to give us a call. We’ll talk you through what could happen and also what you can do to get a better outcome.
