Gov. Jon S. Corzine didn't see the need to wear his seatbelt as his Chevrolet Suburban he was riding in was traveling 91 miles per hour, 26 m.p.h. over the posted speed limit, according to New York Times. Why is that? Just because he's a politician and has those neat flashing lights in the grill, doesn't give him the right to speed. Was Corzine's meeting with Don Imus and members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team really all that important? Corzine remains in critical condition and on a ventilator.
The superintendent of the state police, Col. Joseph R. Fuentes, said Tuesday that the trooper driving the vehicle, Robert J. Rasinski, had told investigators that he did not know how fast he was traveling as he led Mr. Corzine’s two-car caravan, emergency lights flashing, from an Atlantic City speech to a meeting at the governor’s mansion in Princeton. But the recorder clocked the speed at 91 m.p.h. five seconds before the Suburban collided with a white pickup truck, and at 30 m.p.h. when it slammed into a guardrail along the shoulder of the Garden State Parkway, the police said. Mr. Corzine, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the front passenger seat to the back, breaking his thigh bone in two places, a dozen ribs, his breastbone and collarbone and a lower vertebra. He remains in critical condition and on a ventilator after three operations on his leg. Colonel Fuentes said that troopers who drive the governor and other state officials are given discretion to use the emergency lights and exceed the speed limit in cases of an emergency and, because of security concerns, are advised not to let the governor’s vehicle remain “bogged down in a traffic jam.” But “if it’s a nonemergency situation, we would ask them to obey the traffic laws and the speed laws,” Colonel Fuentes said in a late-afternoon conference call with reporters. (more)
what a horror ..interesting post Debbie...one set of rules for "them" another for lowly us..
Posted by: Angel | April 18, 2007 at 05:09 PM
What struck me, if you'll pardon the expression, at the time I heard about this is that he wasn't wearing a seat belt, there is a seat belt law with a fine for not wearing one, and no mention was made of his not getting a ticket for failure to wear a seat belt.
His not getting a ticket when everyone else does get one places him above the law. I insist that he receive a ticket for this infraction and be made to pay the fine.
Alternatively, every citizen of New Jersey who receives a ticket for this should refuse to pay it. If the Governor doesn't have to, well, he is the state leader, now isn't he?
"Last year, New Jersey law officers ticketed 271,182 people for not wearing seat belts."
That's a lot of unpaid tickets. That would get some attention.
Rastaman
www.islamanazi.com
Posted by: Rastaman | April 18, 2007 at 10:30 AM
I'm all for compassion for safe drivers. In fact, that's why there are laws governing the use of vehicles on public roads. Compassion for the irresponsible: that's what hospitals are for. Corzine was fully aware of the risk he was taking. :)
Posted by: Martin | April 18, 2007 at 10:02 AM
We don't know why Corzine's truck was speeding; we do know that it was an accident caused by a swerving car; we know that IMUS was fired; Corzine doesn't need his insurance (he needs a bit of good fortune now to recover - and should have our prayers); a politician not in a seat belt while working is not uncommon (one retired Congressman I know - now a lobbyist - drives with his knees while writing notes and looking up a phone number in the Federal Directory (not good behavior).
I do love the "compassion" though.
Posted by: Stormwarning | April 18, 2007 at 05:51 AM
Liberal dems of course are exempt from the laws of the commoners they lord it over. Unfortunately, one of those laws is not physics, to which its creator...God...gets the last laugh. I hope Corzine recovers, but let it be a lesson to him; public safety laws usually exist for a reason (and even police and ambulance drivers must stay within certain bounds); the governor is lucky he didn't kill any innocent bystanders.
Posted by: Martin | April 18, 2007 at 01:36 AM
Hopefully, they'll treat it like any other major traffic accident:
The at-fault driver is responsible (or at least his insurance), and has to take any legal consequences, and Corzine is screwed by the health insurance because he wasn't buckled up.
There really can't be one rule for everyone, and another for politicians...
Posted by: michael | April 18, 2007 at 01:09 AM
Debbie I have no use for either of them. They are nothing more than useful fools.
Posted by: Layla | April 17, 2007 at 11:20 PM