Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Controversy follows Virginia driving fines
By Lauren K. O'Neil
The Collegiate Times (Virginia Tech)
07/26/2007

(U-WIRE) BLACKSBURG, Va. — A Virginia motorist handed a reckless driving ticket on a street or highway within the Commonwealth will pay for their mistake for three years if found guilty. Someone passing through with a driver's license from North Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia or any other state will not.

Since going into effect July 1, controversy has mounted over House Bill 3202, which imposes between $750 and $3,000 in additional fees over three years for criminal driving offenses — but only on Virginia residents.

Many say the new law is going overboard, and Virginia drivers shouldn't pay for the same mistakes, some say, up to 10 times greater than a out-of-state motorists.

Others, including Governor Tim Kaine (D) and Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Bill Howell (R-Spotsylvania), have joined in bipartisan agreement that there is a lot of misinformation out there, and the new fines will fund transportation projects.

"House Bill 3202 includes provisions to specifically address the transportation needs of our most congested regions — Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads," Howell said during consideration by the General Assembly.

"Legislators from those areas crafted key portions of the bill in a bipartisan manner. And, they have worked diligently to incorporate solutions that permit their respective regions to raise and — equally significant — retain funding for their unique needs."

Proponents also argue the new law targets abusive drivers, not those who get an occasional speeding ticket.

"The point of the bill is to promote safety; it is to charge people if they commit serous offenses or have, kind of, persistently bad driving records. I don't know if it targets the poor — I think it targets poor drivers," Kaine said in a June 26 news release.

"I think people know how to drive, and I think they cut corners because they feel like they can get away with it. But if the consequences are significant maybe they will follow the rules."

Yet despite passage this past spring, the state law is out of the question for Front Royal councilman Thomas Sayre, who is sponsoring a proposal to stop the town from enforcing the new fines.

The Front Royal proposal reads, "The new civil penalties will be removed from the Town Code; therefore, anyone convicted under Town Code Section 158-6 regarding civil penalties will be exempt."

Front Royal members will consider the amendment at a town work session Monday, July 30, and a vote on whether to remove the civil fines could take place the town's next council meeting on Aug. 13, said council clerk Jennifer Berry.

The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia civil liberties organization, said in a July 11 release that the civil fines could pose a legal dilemma.

"These remedial fees are ripe for a legal challenge. In order to avoid such an eventuality, these fees should be eliminated because they do not bear any real relationship to the costs incurred by the Commonwealth as a result of the traffic offenses that trigger the fees," reads the release addressed to Speaker Howell and Virginia Senate Finance Chairman John Chichester.

"The fact that only Virginia drivers are penalized with these remedial fees is patently unfair and offensive to the fundamental principle embodied in the state and federal constitutions that all persons are to be treated equally under the law."

Debate has also spread among the Tech community, with a variety of thoughts on how the new fines will affect college students' pocketbooks and driving habits.

"I see the beneficial part of it but I don't think it would change my driving," said senior communications major Kim Foley. "I don't think many college students know about it. Maybe if they get a ticket they will stop, but they'll forget about it — a lot of parents help students through school with money."

"But for those who pay for their own school and they find they have to pay that much, they might change their driving," Foley said.

While many students see the benefits of increased transportation funding, especially those living in the target areas of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, other see the new law as just another kind of tax.

"The condition of and budget for the roadways has been a state-wide crisis of some concern, in the last year especially," said Christine Malady, a masters student in education. "Anyone who has taken an economics course should quickly realize why we are spending more for less quality than would be the case in a privatized situation."

Many students, including Maryland Tech student Kristin Werner, won't be affected by the new law.

"I don't care, I'm from Maryland," said Werner, a senior human nutrition foods and exercise major. "But it will put a lot of students in debt."

House Bill 3202 was introduced by Delegate Dave Albo (R-Fairfax) and signed by Governor Kaine. The final bill only included Virginia drivers, so the Department of Motor Vehicles wouldn't be faced with the difficult task of collecting fees from those with out-of-state licenses, according to the DMV.

Some legislators are considering a special session of the General Assembly to address the growing concern around the state. Over 3,000 have signed a petition at www.ipetitions.com/petition/VAtrafficfees requesting the General Assembly to hold a special session no later than Sept. 30 to repeal the bill.

As of Wednesday afternoon, close to 160 thousand had signed a separate petition at www.petitiononline.com/va3202 asking for a repeal of the Virginia civil fines, saying the fines "inflict a punishment on drivers that is disproportionate to the degree of the offense they committed."

The petition also cites the exclusion of out-of-state drivers, the lack of discretion afforded to judges on imposing the fines, and questions the law's purpose "to generate revenue" as unrelated to public safety.

Yet Speaker Howell and Governor Kaine have publicly reaffirmed their support for the new law, and say a special session isn't necessary.

Four other states have similar civil driving penalties, including Texas, New Jersey, New York, and Michigan. Yet not all are the alike.

In New York, for example, unlike the Virginia law, civil fines apply to both in-state and out-of-state drivers, as well as drivers visiting from Canada and other countries.

The Virginia law requires those found guilty of DUI to pay $2,250 in additional civil remedial fines, but the New Jersey and Texas laws are tougher on DUI convictions, requiring $3,000 in additional fees, also payable over three years as is the case in Virginia. Texas differentiates between first and second DUI offenses, requiring three payments of $2,500 for two DUIs, according to the Texas Dept. of Public Safety.

On top of misdemeanor offenses such as reckless driving, aggressive driving and driving on a suspended license, Virginia law requires three payments of $1,000 for felony driving offenses such as involuntary manslaughter and third offense DUIs, on top of fines already imposed.

If a Virginia driver receives eight demerit points, the individual must pay $100, and $75 for each demerit point over eight. Fees for demerit points cannot go above $700 per driver, though.

The four other states with similar civil fee programs have similar rules on accumulation of demerit points. Michigan, for example, requires $100 per year as long as a driver has seven or more demerit points — with an additional $25 for each demerit point over seven.

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