What happened to New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was terrible. He’ll be recovering from his injuries for a long time. But there was no reason — including being on the way to last week’s meeting between Don Imus and the Rutgers women — for a N.J. state trooper to be driving the governor’s SUV at a reported 91 mph on the 65-mph-limit Garden State Parkway. Also stunning was that at such a speed, Corzine apparently wasn’t wearing his seat belt. What would prompt a public servant to act so recklessly?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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18 Comments
I’ve always favored those who behave recklessly should be responsible for the bills incurred.
In this case, the NJ Governor didn’t wear his seat belt, then he gets all of the medical bill to pay.
The Highway Patrolman needs to go back to square one and be demoted for driving that fast for no good reason or perhaps even fired.
Best wishes to all who were injured and speedy recover.
I think the Governor learned a very painful lesson why seat belts are important.
You don’t understand, Republican! He was the governor. He can’t be expected to trouble himself to follow same laws everyone else has to follow!
Politicians often exempt themselves, either through wording in the statute or by their actual behavior, from the laws they pass for the rest of us to follow.
You just don’t understand that they’re more important than the rest of us.
“What would prompt a public servant to act so recklessly?”
A date with a national news camera.
I hope he is fined for not wearing a seat belt
Natural consequences. They should be thankful they didn’t kill anyone else.
This is what I’ve said all along, speed, folks, is the number 1 killer.
If you speed, you should be held as accountable as if you were driving drunk.
“I hope he is fined for not wearing a seat belt”
More from the Nanny Staters. I say let Darwin rule. It’s not the goverment’s business.
Bone-head jackasses, we have speed limits, traffic rules and safety protocols recommendations all figured out for decades by engineers.What the hell do you think those rules are there for, do you think it was all for entertainment?
Having lived in NJ and having driven that exact stretch of road many times, I can assure you that everyone else around the Gov’s SUV was going about that fast. I’m not excusing it at all. Just noting that going 65 on the Garden State Parkway is, in a perverse way, almost more dangerous than going the prevailing speed since the prevailing speed is usually at least 15-20 mph faster.
Another detail not mentioned here, but important, is that the wreck was caused by another careless driver who veered into traffic and caused a chain reaction. Given the volume of traffic on that road, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid an accident of this sort if someone veers unexpectedly. Again, I’m not excusing the Trooper for driving so fast. The speed undoubtably made the accident worse than it would have been.
Finally, no amount of additional detail could offer any meaningful perspective on the fact that the Gov wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. When asked why the Trooper who was driving didn’t tell the Gov to fasten his seatbelt, a spokesman said something to the effect that Corzine often doesn’t respond favorably to being told what to do. There’s simply no excuse for that. No one is above the law.
The Trooper and the Gov’s assistant were both wearing their seatbelts and both walked away with only minor injuries. After a month of hospitalization and at least six months of physical therapy, I have a feeling that Corzine will respond more favorably to being told to fasten his seatbelt in the future.
‘”I hope he is fined for not wearing a seat belt”
More from the Nanny Staters. I say let Darwin rule. It’s not the goverment’s business.’
But Fleetwood, he is breaking the law and should be punished! (that seems the typical Repub response)
“But Fleetwood, he is breaking the law and should be punished!”
If he broke the law, he should be fined (what $10?). My point, as you know, was that it’s a Nanny State law. It’s not, I’ll say again, any of the goverments biz.
Fleetwood,
I don’t know what to make of someone who’s so annoyed by the idea that the state passed a law requiring people to do something (wear seatbelts) that has no negative effects and many, MANY measurable benefits (decreased time spent by emergency responders removing injured people from wreckage, decreased medical bills, etc.)
I don’t mean to drag this thread off topic, but it’s hard not to remark upon the fact that while you’re complaining about the Nanny state here, in another thread today you seem completely untroubled by the notion that the Government can tap your phones, open your mail, review a history of the books you’ve bought and checked out from the library, require your internet service provider to turn over records of your internet usage and enter and search your home ALL WITHOUT A WARRANT and WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE. And if all that isn’t enough, the Government can quite literally have you disappeared. No charges, no trial. The Bush Administration openly and proudly claims that the President has all these powers.
Before you get all excited and start jumping up and down about the terrorists that want to kill us, please stop and consider that one day soon, whether you like it or not, a Democrat will be the President. Do you really want a Democrat to have all of those unchecked powers?
Don’t forget to buckle up!
Fleetwood, I personally do not think the gov should legislate personal safety like seat belts or helmets.
However, I question your reasoning why not. When two things are against the law, why is one not the government’s business and the other is?
“Fleetwood, I personally do not think the gov should legislate personal safety like seat belts or helmets.”
brian- I’m glad that we could agree on this.
Being a good liberal, I am all for small government and personal freedom
Republican – well said above. He is governor; he should obey his own laws.
They had a motorcade, with emergency lights flashing, and were causing traffic ahead to move to the right lane.
Trooper claims it’s “standard practice” to speed, to avoid being overtaken, or parallel with another vehicle.
More details,http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/7413418p-7308562c.html
Right, what kind of person would do such a thing? Does every single screw up in this country have to be blown up to a major moral crisis?
“When the accident happened, Corzine was headed to a meeting between radio show host Don Imus and the Rutgers women’s basketball team. “Cockpit voice recorder:
“HURRY UP TROOPER…..DAMN YOU, I’M MISSING SOME FACE TIME ON THIS WHOLE Somebody IMUS vs Those NAPPY-whatever GALS !!!!! This is a crisis….DAMN THE SPEED LIMIT AND SCREW THOSE SEAT BELT LAWS……STEP ON IT! 87-88-90-91, now ya got it!”CCCCRRRRRRAAAASSSSHHHHH!!!!