According to theNewspaper.com, AAA has "repositioned itself a third time on Virginia's controversial civil remedial fees." First AAA supported the fees. Then it didn't support them. Now it supports them again. Tomorrow, who knows? Why the changing positions by AAA? Perhaps this might help explain it:
One explanation for the disconnect between the views of AAA and its customers is that AAA is one of the nation's largest providers of automobile insurers. That means for each traffic citation issued to Virginia members, AAA can raise that driver's annual premium by anywhere from $50 to $1000 or more. The civil remedial fee law for its part provides a financial imperative for police to issue hefty citations in order to raise revenue.
That's right, AAA has a financial incentive to support the abuser fees. The more fees, the more money they can make on insurance premiums. Nice line of work if you can get it, huh?
P.S. I love this: "The American Automobile Association (AAA) last week stood with Virginia state Senator Jay O'Brien Jr (R-Fairfax) in endorsing a number of newly enacted laws designed to increase the number of ways to levy fines on Virginia motorists. Foremost among these was the controversial ticket tax that brought the maximum penalty for speeding to $3550." Niiiice.
I cancelled my membership years ago after continually reading their about efforts to encourage NOTHING but road construction. I don't pay attention to them any more.
I sent him information on Matt Simmon's book "Twightlight in the Desert". Never heard from him after that :-).