Petition against the new VA traffic violation civil penalties.

Originally Posted by Petition
To: Elected Officials in the Commonwealth of Virginia

We, the citizens of Virginia, are opposed to the outrageous and unjust traffic fines imposed as "civil remedial fees" in House Bill 3202 for the following reasons:

1. The fines inflict a punishment on drivers that is disproportionate to the degree of the offense they committed.
2. The fines are mandatory, and judges are given no discretion in sentencing.
3. The language of the bill states that the purpose is to "generate revenue" and hence the fines have nothing to do with traffic safety.
4. The bill's sponsor, Del. David Albo (R- 42nd District) is a partner in a law firm that specializes in traffic court cases and stands to benefit personally from this legislation. This type of conflict of interest should not be tolerated.
5. The fines in the bill apply ONLY to Virginia residents, hence unfairly creating different penalties for the same traffic offense based solely on residency.
6. In order to generate additional revenue, points for driving offenses remain on the offender's license for up to 11 years. This will unnecessarily increase the offender's insurance rates for a time frame that is incongruent with the degree of the offense.

We, the undersigned, demand the immediate repeal of these "civil remedial fees." We will not vote for any state Delegate or State Senator who voted for this bill, or for any Delegate or Senator who does not take action to repeal the sections of House Bill 3202 that inflict these exorbitant and unjust penalties.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Sign the petition here

View the entire bill here (in .pdf format)

Matthews

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski