Thursday, June 28, 2007
Busted: Reckless drivers
Virginia will impose fees as high as $3,000 to discourage poor driving and raise money for transportation
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Driving fees take effect Sunday
A state transportation funding bill includes stiff new fees for all misdemeanor and felony traffic offenses to generate money for highway maintenance. "Civil remedial fees" are imposed on Virginia drivers for a three-year period and do not include fines a judge may impose for a conviction. Here are some examples:
- Driving while intoxicated: $2,250
- Reckless driving: $1,050
- Driving without a license: $900
- Driving with a suspended license: $750
- Any other misdemeanor driving conviction: $900
- Any felony driving conviction: $3,000
In addition, drivers who accumulate eight or more demerit points on their licenses must pay annual fees of $100 plus $75 for each demerit point in excess of eight. The maximum fine is $700. THe fees do not apply to demerit points accumulated before Sunday.
For more information, see a document of the bill.
RICHMOND -- A heavy foot or one too many drinks will become very costly to Virginia drivers on Sunday, when severe new traffic penalties take effect in the state.
In an effort to raise money for highway maintenance and operations, the state will begin assessing hefty surcharges on licensed Virginia motorists who commit offenses such as reckless or drunken driving. And drivers who accumulate eight or more demerit points on their licenses after the law takes effect must pay additional fees to keep their driving privileges.
The new licensing fees, which run as high as $3,000 for a felony offense, are part of an omnibus transportation funding bill approved earlier this year by the General Assembly and Gov. Tim Kaine. The fight over transportation funding dominated the winter legislative session and the bill may prove to be the most controversial of new laws that take effect Sunday.
Lawmakers would not support broad-based tax increases to generate needed money for roads. But most supported so-called "civil remedial fees" or "abuser fees" that will add at least hundreds of dollars to the cost of certain traffic violations.
Violators will pay the fees in three installments over a 26-month period, beginning with their conviction. A reckless driving conviction for an offense such as speeding 20 mph over the posted limit will cost $1,050. A first-time conviction for drunken driving will cost $2,250. The civil fees, which cannot be suspended, are assessed on top of fines and other costs imposed by the court.
The new fees will not apply to lesser traffic violations such as running a stop sign or low-level speeding, but an accumulation of those offenses could lead to a fee for having eight or more demerit points.
The transportation bill also taps other sources to generate new road revenue. Vehicle registration fees will increase by $10. Weight-based fees for heavy trucks also will increase. And the tax on diesel fuel will increase from 16 cents per gallon to 17.5 cents, matching the state tax on regular gasoline.
Even before the law takes effect, Kaine and lawmakers are hearing complaints from Virginians who consider the new traffic penalties excessive and unfair. Kaine got an earful about the issue during a call-in radio show Tuesday, but offered little sympathy for drivers who ignore the rules of the road.
"I don't think the problem is that people don't know how to drive, I think it's that they don't follow the rules," Kaine said on WTOP radio in Washington, D.C. "This should be a pretty powerful incentive for them to follow the rules."
The new penalties provide no incentive for out-of-state drivers, because the new fees only apply to Virginia license-holders. That means the drivers of the swerving minivan from Maryland and the speeding truck from Tennessee will pay only existing fines and court costs for their transgressions. A Virginia driver must pay additional civil fees to keep his or her license. The first installment will be paid to the court and the subsequent installments to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
"It's not that we don't want their money, it's just that we didn't think we could legally get it," said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, when asked about penalizing out-of-state drivers.
The new fees for driving offenses and bad driving records are expected to generate about $65 million annually.
Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke, questioned whether the state can rely on the fees as a sustainable source of transportation funding. He voted for the omnibus transportation bill despite his opposition to the "abuser fees."
"I just thought it was wishful thinking and a terrible way, year to year, to estimate revenue for transportation," Ware said, adding that lawmakers should have found a way to apply the same penalties to out-of-state drivers.
Griffith helped shepherd the bill through the House and continues to defend it, saying it targets bad drivers and those who commit "egregious" offenses on the highways.
"The people who are going to suffer are the people I think we want to be sending a message to," said Griffith, insisting that most drivers have little to worry about.
"To really get in trouble, you've had to do a pretty bad job of driving and been caught numerous times," Griffith said. "And those are the people we want to catch."
An explanation of the new law from an official with the state Supreme Court lists 124 offenses the fees will be applied to, but many of those are derivations of drunken driving or reckless driving offenses.
But some officials worry that the new fees will have a severe impact on lower-income drivers and lead to an increase in the number of motorists who drive with suspended or revoked licenses.
"Clearly these are Draconian penalties compared to what courts have imposed in terms of monetary fines," said Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell.
"I don't think it's well thought-out and I don't think the results are going to support the expectations," Caldwell said.
Caldwell said few drivers will understand the impact of the new fees until they are convicted and forced to pay them.
Ware, a lawyer who handles traffic cases, said the new law "is going to make criminals out of people" who can't pay the fees.
He said lawmakers should address the bill's "unintended consequences" in next year's legislative session.
"I hope we go back and look at it again," Ware said.
