Civil Jury Instructions Home

3.7-2  Statutory Negligence - Speeding

Revised to January 1, 2008

We have a statute that provides that no person shall operate any motor vehicle upon any highway at such a rate of speed as to endanger the life of any occupant of that motor vehicle or at a rate of speed greater than fifty-five miles per hour.  If you find that the defendant operated a motor vehicle upon a highway either at such a speed as to endanger the life of any occupant of that motor vehicle or at a rate of speed greater than fifty-five miles per hour, then the defendant has failed to conform to the duty imposed by the legislature through the enactment of the statute that I have just described.

Authority

General Statutes § 14-219 (a).

Notes

The statute does not apply to rates of speed that endanger the life of a person other than an occupant.  That circumstance is addressed by the reckless driving statute, General Statutes § 14-222 (a), and Statutory Negligence - Reckless Driving, Instruction 3.7-1.  The offense of traveling unreasonably fast in violation of General Statutes § 14-218a (a) is addressed in Statutory Negligence - Traveling Unreasonably Fast, Instruction 3.7-3.