Virginia Traffic Tickets (1 Viewer)

[VVextreme]

I just moved to Richmond, VA from New Orleans. I am shocked to find out about this new law that has fines up to over $3,000 for a single traffic offense. I find this to be ridiculous, extreme and just wrong. Therefore I would like to exercise my civic duty to protest. Does anyone know who to call or write a letter to in order to voice my view? I would appreciate your input and any good suggestions against this outrage.

Bottom line is you should not go bankrupt just because you accidently or on purpose went faster than some arbitrary and most likely unrealistically slow standard set by a regulatory body that just wants to take money from it's very customers it's supposed to serve.

 

[derick76]

Yeah my cousin lives there I couldn't beleive it when I heard about that crazy law. Good Luck sorry I'm not sure who to write to for a protest to the new law.

 

[geoffspins]

The judge :dunno:

 

[JimEverett]

talk to a lawyer about filing an equal protection lawsuit. for those rich d.c. folks a $3,000 "penalty don;t mean crap. for a working man it may mean losing a house. if its a penalty it should be proportionate.

 

[geoffspins]

talk to a lawyer about filing an equal protection lawsuit. for those rich d.c. folks a $3,000 "penalty don;t mean crap. for a working man it may mean losing a house. if its a penalty it should be proportionate.

Huh? So, if a person drives a 20 year old heap at 60mph through a school zone they should be fined less than someone who drives a brand new sports coupe at the same speed through the same zone?

Perhaps murderers should be tried by a similar system; a high school dropout gets a lesser sentence because they couldn't be expected to know better?

Yes I'm reaching and being pedantic, but tv on Friday nights is crap

 

[JimEverett]

Huh? So, if a person drives a 20 year old heap at 60mph through a school zone they should be fined less than someone who drives a brand new sports coupe at the same speed through the same zone?

Perhaps murderers should be tried by a similar system; a high school dropout gets a lesser sentence because they couldn't be expected to know better?

Yes I'm reaching and being pedantic, but tv on Friday nights is crap

if the point is to punish then a person who makes a million dollars a year is not punished in the same way as a person who makes $30,00 a year when they are both fined the same amount for the same offense.

The same line of reasoning obviously wouldn't apply to cases where jail time or even probation were at issue.

 

[geoffspins]

if the point is to punish then a person who makes a million dollars a year is not punished in the same way as a person who makes $30,00 a year when they are both fined the same amount for the same offense.

The same line of reasoning obviously wouldn't apply to cases where jail time or even probation were at issue.

You definitely have a point. However, if you know that the law allows for a $3000 fine for an offence and you only make 30k a year then surely you are less likely to commit that offence? Should fines be means tested? Where would you draw the line?

 

[porculator]

The point isn't to punish, its to fund new highways. For the record I live in VA and think its ********. The governor just took a lot of crap for it the other day and said there were no plans to change it. In fact they might start applying it to out of state drivers at some point. The states a damn joke.

 

[superchuck500]

http://www.saintsreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33844



http://www.saintsreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33248

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

I just moved to Richmond, VA from New Orleans. I am shocked to find out about this new law that has fines up to over $3,000 for a single traffic offense.

Point of order, the extreme fines are for reckless driving, not going 10 miles over or parking in a no-parking zone.

I don't think $3k is extreme in some circumstances. Auto accidents kill ~50,000 americans a year, most of which could be prevented if people drove smarter.

 

[St. Greatness]

I just moved to Richmond, VA from New Orleans. I am shocked to find out about this new law that has fines up to over $3,000 for a single traffic offense. I find this to be ridiculous, extreme and just wrong. Therefore I would like to exercise my civic duty to protest. Does anyone know who to call or write a letter to in order to voice my view? I would appreciate your input and any good suggestions against this outrage.

Bottom line is you should not go bankrupt just because you accidently or on purpose went faster than some arbitrary and most likely unrealistically slow standard set by a regulatory body that just wants to take money from it's very customers it's supposed to serve.

There was an online petition to sign and over 100,000 people signed it, but the law will not be changed.............for now. It was in the news this week that Governor Tim Kaine will not call a special meeting to have the law changed. It is a fairly new law (about a month, two months old). Sorry about that, but hey, welcome to VA bro !!

 

[staphory]

Point of order, the extreme fines are for reckless driving, not going 10 miles over ...

Are you sure about that?
VA law classifies a lot of things as reckless driving. You could get penalized under the new rules for driving 10 over under the right conditions.
Check out this excerpt from the new fee schedule...

46.2-861
MISDEMEANOR RECKLESS DRIVING - EXCEEDING A REASONABLE
SPEED UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND TRAFFIC CONDITIONS
EXISTING AT THE TIME, REGARDLESS OF ANY POSTED SPEED LIMIT.
(C)2 $350 Misdemeanor 1

...The officer could cite you for reckless driving under that section and if convicted it would cost you a total of $1050.00 not including court costs.

http://www.courts.state.va.us/publications/hb_3202.pdf

You certainly wouldn't want to show up for court in NOVA to face a reckless driving charge without a lawyer. Those judges up there are notorius for not really wanting to hear from the accused in such matters.

Anyway, the guys at NASIOC are discussing this as well. Lots of good info in that thread...
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1289275​

 

[Ted]

IITC, you have to be going at least 15 miles over the speed limit.

 

[staphory]

IITC, you have to be going at least 15 miles over the speed limit.

Actually, if you follow the links provided you will see that there are several things that are classified as reckless driving. One way to get a reckless citation is 20 over or going 80.

15 over comes from the fact that the speed limit on the interstate is 65. 65 + 15 = 80 = automatic reckless driving. In VA you can go to jail for that even on a first offense.

Also note that they have felony and misdemeanor reckless driving.

46.2-862 MISDEMEANOR RECKLESS DRIVING - SPEEDING 20 MPH OR MORE
ABOVE SPEED LIMIT OR IN EXCESS OF 80 MPH. (C)2 $350 Misdemeanor 1

http://www.courts.state.va.us/publications/hb_3202.pdf​

 

[VVextreme]

Point of order, the extreme fines are for reckless driving, not going 10 miles over or parking in a no-parking zone.

I don't think $3k is extreme in some circumstances. Auto accidents kill ~50,000 americans a year, most of which could be prevented if people drove smarter.

speeding doesn't kill people, collisions kill people. (guns don't kill people, people kill people.)

Why in the world should you pay huge fines just because you are going faster than what someone else thinks I should. I guarranttee that 99% of the speed limits had no real thought put into it as to why it should be that speed. Also, many speed traps are designed to trick you into speeding.

People make mistakes. I remember when my mom was driving my car one day, and she wasn't used to the feel of it. She was going over 90 on the interstate and didn't even realize it. Therefore I told her that you do realize you are going over 90, right? And she practically slammed on the breaks cause she had no idea. One little mistake shouldn't potentially break you financially just because some stupid group of politicians can't manage a budget for road construction. Aren't we already paying for all the stupid toll roads as it is? VA politicians are terrible, they need to totally reevaluate their entire system for traffic. They aren't modernizing their system, they are just aggrivating their residents they are supposed to serve and turning this into a communist state by trying to control every second of our lives. What happened to the land of the free? I certainly don't feel free when I am driving anymore.