Wyoming Lawmakers To Consider Lowering Most Speeding Fines

The Wyoming Legislature is scheduled to consider a bill that would lower most fines for speeding in Wyoming when it convenes next month.

House Bill 12 is being sponsored by the legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee.

Current Wyoming law has nine different categories of speeding, covering everything from speeding in a school zone to driving too fast on a dirt road. And each category has up to 40 different possible fines. But HB 12 would include only three different categories --general speeding, speeding in a school zone, and speeding in a construction zone. The amount of the fines would depend on how fast a motorist is driving, but in most cases, the fines under the bill would be less than those currently imposed under state law.

For example, driving five miles per hour over the speed limit can currently carry a fine of up to $80 or as little as $25, depending on the circumstances. But under the bill, it would carry a flat penalty of a $20 fine.

But the leader of the state's largest city is not a fan of the proposed changes. Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr has pledged to work for the defeat of the bill because she is worried that the lower fines would lead to more speeding.

The Cheyenne Police Department is currently in the middle of a crackdown on speeding, and the mayor says the changes would not help reduce speeding in Cheyenne, which she says is an on-going problem that she hears about constantly from residents.

The mayor on Monday during her ''State of the City" speech, said she will be actively encouraging lawmakers not to approve the bill as it is currently written.