Posted on 06/27/2007 11:35:12 AM PDT by bad company
Virginia motorists convicted of minor traffic violations will face a new, multi-year tax beginning July 1. Led by state Delegate David B. Albo (R-Springfield), lawmakers slipped a driver responsibility tax into a larger transportation funding bill signed by Governor Tim Kaine (D) in April. Albo, a senior partner in the Albo & Oblon, LLP traffic law firm, can expect to see a significant increase in business as motorists seek to protect their wallet from traffic tickets that come with assessments of up to $3000 in addition to an annual point tax that tops out at $700 a year for as long as the points remain.
"The purpose of the civil remedial fees imposed in this section is to generate revenue," the new law states. (Virginia Code 46.2-206.1)
Driving as little as 15 MPH over the limit on an interstate highway now brings six license demerit points, a fine of up to $2500, up to one year in jail, and a new mandatory $1050 tax. The law also imposes an additional annual fee of up to $100 if a prior conviction leaves the motorist with a balance of eight demerit points, plus $75 for each additional point (up to $700 a year). The conviction in this example remains on the record for five years.
Other six-point convictions include "failing to give a proper signal," "passing a school bus" or "driving with an obstructed view." The same $1050 assessment applies, but the conviction remains on the record for eleven years.
Although the amount of the tax can add up quickly, the law forbids judges from reducing or suspending it in any way. The tax applies only to Virginia residents, so that out-of-state motorists only need to pay the regular ticket amount. Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Texas also impose a somewhat more modest driver responsibility tax which they apply to out-of-state residents.
The Virginia Supreme Court provides a full explanation of the new penalties for each traffic infraction in the 34k PDF file at the source link below.
good thing xsteen is going to college in TX... ; )
That's actually the best capsule description of Free Republic I've seen in awhile. ;)
here in ca i see people routinely doing 20-30 mph over the 65 mph speed limit on the freeways.
My wife and I did Jamestown and Wms’burg in 2005.
Va. is OK - but you ain’t missing much if you skip these two..
Actually I was thinking more of your driving record... ;^)
“It has long been a felony to be caught going 20 mph over the speed limit regardless, and the points stay for 11 years.”
LOL
No, it’s not yet a felony, but if the Virginia Legislature thought it could make them more revenue, they might make it one.
How about effective penalties? One side of this discussion repeatedly reports the general and habitual violation of posted speed limits as an argument for ... for what? The status quo? Clearly the current penalties in many if not most places aren't effective.
The same side of the discussion thinks that instead of severe penalties for holding the law in contempt a reasonable solution which respects the varying ages and situations of the different people on the highways is to make laws which work fine for young people driving sports cars, but maybe not so well for people in their mid-70's driving Buicks.
The argument seems to be that most of us at one time or another broke the speed laws, so the laws should not be enforced, and most of us were young once and had cool cars, so the guy in his 50's trailing 1500 lbs of sheep breeding stock from Charlottesville to Marengo IL behind his F250 ought to give way to the clown driving a Nissan Z-something or other 5 feet from his rear bumper. The SOB can wait, Just as soon as I finish passing this lady driving 55, I'll get over to the right, and I sure won't do it any faster because somebody in a two-seater thinks he's one of the Andrettis and I81 is the Brickyard..
Nope. Not impressed and not convinced. I have a right to use the highways my taxes paid for in vehicles legal for those highways and I have a right to do so without fear of some young idiot harming me and my property because he thinks that everyone who isn't like him should get out of his way and that the laws should be rewritten to suit him.
I'm not saying this response is right. But the argument that I should be allowed to ignore the law because so many others do strikes me as weak. And the argument that obeying the limit is morally suspect because it creates a hazard for those who don't obey the limit is downright perverse. Now I have an obligation to break the law because so may others do? Yes, it would be safer if everyone drove the same speed. So why do those who ignore the limit get off setting the speed I drive at? Let them change THEIR speed. The argument just doesn't bear examining.
This means they no longer have police. They now have uniformed tax accessors.
17 over, speed trap, poor signs since fixed
17 over, in rain on way to work, signs ok
72/55 in PA speed (where it drops from 65)
in 2003: 79/65 on route 66 (was going 82)
So 16 points on my record (8 purely revenue, the one in 2003 I deserved) which puts me over the threshold for paying $100/year for the next 3 years. Thought once I paid the fine and took the insurance hit for points I was done. I was wrong. Retroactive tax for driving 40k miles / year in speed trap zones.
Needless to say, my 40k miles/year is thick with them here in Northern VA. If they get a reckless it's $1500 for fine plus no license. For a legal resident it's at least $2k with the new fees. No legal residence, no fees, pretty simple.
Nah, I just believe that laws are “laws” not “suggestions”.
Reminds me of the lyrics to the ‘I-95 song’....
i wasn’t trying to come off mean spirited (the pos comment is a bit much), I apoligize.
Shakespeare had a point when he said, "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."*
Of course, being a lawyer I don't like to bring that up much :>) Some of us aren't quite so bad, and actually try to help client's avoid financing the next Mercedes for our more dorsal fin-endowed competitors.
*I saw a great T-shirt once. It had that quote, with a noticeable asterisk at the end. At the bottom of the shirt, in the appropriate small print, was "...except for mine."
I understand and share your frustration. I just don’t think that VA’s solution is anything other than an excessive fine and a horrible abuse of authority. Such abuses produce a reaction in response, usually with quite unexpected and unintended consequences.
As far as effective penalties, I’m all for it. How about mild fines for first and second offenses, and then increasing them as the number increase? Ultimately, suspend a license or take it away if someone is proven to be an uncontrollable menace. But these penalties? No, no way, they’re WAY too harsh at too early a point. The fact that one of the people interviewed specifically stated that it was a revenue-raiser was the proof - it isn’t oriented toward safety, and whatever safety benefits there may be will be purely coincidental.
VA: guilty until proven innocent... so pay up.
"If God didn't want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep."
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