VA’s new Civil Remedial Fees … Discriminatory?

Well, unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere I’m sure you’ve heard about Virginia’s new so-called civil remedial fees. The new fees, which took effect on July 1, were

“designed to provide additional funds to address various transportation needs in the Commonwealth.”

That’s a quote directly from the legislation itself (see http://www.courts.state.va.us/publications/hb_3202.pdf).

Now as a lifelong Virginia resident I do admit that we could use more money for road maintenance

and upgrades. For example, the road I live on has needed paving for years. But it gets neglected.

Why? Shortage of state funds. So since the Virginia legislature wasn’t able to balance the budget, they decided to stick it to Virginia’s drivers.

Notice I said VIRGINIA’S drivers. Not out of state drivers. Nope, just Virginia drivers.

Hmmmmm. Evidently the members of Virginia’s legislature does not know what “discrimination” means.

Here is the definition according to www.dictionary.com:

“treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit”

See here’s the thing. If some guy from New York gets ticketed for reckless driving in Virginia, he will have to pay approximately a $150 fine. But if a Virginia resident gets ticketed for reckless driving in Virginia, he will have to pay a $150 fine PLUS an extra $1,050 fine on top of that!

Now in case you are wondering how the state of Virginia defines reckless driving, here it is:

“Reckless driving - speeding in excess of 80 mph”
See http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/citizen/drivers/points_6.asp

How many people do you know that have never went 80 mph on the interstate. Heck, sometimes you have to run that fast just to keep from getting run over. Does that make you a ‘dangerous driver’?

See, that’s another thing that gripes me … according to the new law, the stated purpose is to make dangerous drivers pay for our budget shortfall.

Here’s an excerpt from the bill:

Purpose. The statute states the purpose of these fees is to generate revenue from drivers whose proven dangerous driving behavior places significant financial burdens upon the Commonwealth. (see http://www.courts.state.va.us/publications/hb_3202.pdf).

If that were truely the case then I would not have a problem with these new law. But, (and this is a big ‘but’), the new law isn’t targeting the ‘dangerous drivers’. Nor is it punishing the ‘dangerous drivers.’

It’s targeting and punishing EVERYONE. I’m not a dangerous driver … but if I get ticketed for going 80 on interstate then I will be punished as a dangerous driver.

Now, just in case you are reading this and thinking “yeah, you probably get speeding tickets all the time … that’s why you oppose this new law.” Actually, I’ve only gotten 1 ticket in the last 20 years.

If you actually want to punish the ‘dangerous drivers’ then why not set up a penalty system that increases incremently with each ticket.

Let’s say you get a speeding ticket for 75 in a 65. Ok, you get fined $150.

Then you get ticketed a couple of months later going 78 in a 65. Ok, now you pay a $300 fine.

Several months later you get ticketed again. This time you pay a $750 fine. And so on.

I completely support a system that will punish the dangerous drivers. Just make sure you don’t group everyone in that classification!

Oh, here’s something else that I find very interesting:

The creator of the new law, Virginia Delegate David Albo, just happens to be a senior partner in the Albo & Oblon law firm. No surprise there.

But here is what’s interesting. Albo & Oblon is a traffic law firm and you can bet they will profit tremendously from this new law.

That seems like a conflict of interest to me. What do you think?