Distinguished Candidates and Members of the GA,My name is Bryan Ault and I am contacting you on behalf of 177,000+ citizens of Virginia who have signed the online petition against the "Civil Remedial Fees" (also called the "abusive driver fees") included in House Bill 3202.
I started this petition because I truly believe these fees are horrible policy for the people of Virginia. Clearly, thousands of my fellow citizens agree. Problems with these fees include:
- Penalties are far too high for the degree of the offense, which violates the explicit prohibition of "excessive fines" in Article 1 Section 9 of Virginia's Constitution.- The penalties are also too high for many Virginians to afford and amount to a regressive tax on lower income residents.
- Demerit points remain on a driver's license for up to 11 years, meaning that as few as 2 offenses in an 11 year period can result in additional fines.
- The fees are affecting first-time offenders for menial offenses and not truly targeting "abusers."
- The fees are applied through traffic enforcement, which is done inconsistently and arbitrarily.
- The fees are for REVENUE, not traffic safety, and unwisely combine revenue legislation with traffic safety legislation.
- Judges are given no discretion to reduce or eliminate the fees
- Similar legislation in other states have had negative unintended consequences.
There is a fundamental problem with the number and type of offenses that are considered "reckless driving" in Virginia, and this legislation exasperates the problem. While these fees may intimidate and scare drivers into slowing down, "slower" does not mean "safer," and, in fact, data shows that accidents and fatalities decrease when speed limits are raised. This legislation will have a minimal if any effect on safety because it was designed to generate revenue and addresses many driving behaviors that are not truly "reckless" rather than truly dangerous behaviors.
Simply adjusting or modifying these fees, as some have proposed, is not sufficient. In particular, applying the fees to out-of-state drivers is not a solution. While it is appalling that the General Assembly imposed these fees solely on the constituents who put them in office but not on the out-of-state motorists who frequent Virgina's roads, applying poor policy to more people fails to address the fundamental problems with the "Civil Remedial Fees." The petition clearly demands the repeal of these fees.
I commend all of you for your public service and the sacrifices you have made for the people of the Commonwealth. However, this legislation is not in the best interest of Virginians and the people have spoken out in opposition. On November 6, we will not be voting for any candidate who does not commit to repealing these fees.
Please contact me regarding your position on this issue. I will be tracking your responses on my blog at http://repealvafees.... so my fellow citizens are aware of your stance when they go to the polls on November 6.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Bryan Ault
Petition: http://www.petitiono...
Blog: http://repealvafees....