Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Hey, Sometimes Democracy Works!

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R—Prince William, Fauquier, has called for the repeal of Virginia’s notorious abusive driver fees. As he wrote in his constituent newsletter today:

I have done some soul searching on this bill in recent days and I’ve decided it would be best to repeal it and start over. It’s just too complex and the out-of-state piece would have taken major surgery. … This is a representative democracy, not a dictatorship. When we make mistakes, we must act to correct them.

As Lingamfelter noted, however, abusive driving remains a real problem in Virginia.

Some people think it’s their right to weave in and out of traffic, speed, drink and drive, drag race, and otherwise endanger innocent drivers. It’s a serious issue. But bad driving is in large measure a law enforcement problem. I think the focus should be there. If you want to use the money to improve traffic safety, fine. But the law should be focused on bad driving, not bad roads.

Well said. Abusive driving is a real problem. And the way to deal with it is to consult with Virginia’s prosecutors and traffic judges, study the experience of other states, and devise penalties with the express goal of modifying dangerous behavior — not raising revenue. It’ll take a lot of study, deliberation and hard work. But the end result will be far superior.

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Comments

5 responses to “Hey, Sometimes Democracy Works!”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    It is naive to believe that the General Assembly leaders and the Governor will truly revisit this issue.

    Time is running out for the Governor to leave a mark, he doesn’t want to refight transportation.

    The General Assembly lacks the will to get bogged down in it again.

    The bottom line is that the transpo compromise package is too fragile. Removing the money these fees will raise destroys the entire deal.

    After the fall election, I doubt we will hear much of anything on this issue from the elected “leaders.”

  2. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    Will Lingamfelter try to repeal the whole bill? Including the Regional Governments?

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    We have had a long standing failure to distinguish between accidents and the unintended results of actions deliberately taken, such as Lingamfelter describes.

    It’s possible to have an accident that might have been prevented, such as by throwing a wheel or having a blowout that was caused by neglect, but that is a lot different from deliberately acting out a crime that results in damage to others.

    We don’t seem to distinguish very much, except in the most egregious cases. We say, the car went out of control and struck a tree, instead of the driver failed to maintain control.

    That failure to distinguish is what is going to cause problems with this. If I thought this was going to be restricted to serious recidivists that need restriction, I might be more sanguine. But I believe this is going to amount to a reverse lottery in which anyone could be trapped by a series of circumstances into a crushing monetary pit.

    RH

  4. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Maybe the rural drivers have figured out that they are a better target for big speeding fines than someone trapped in major congestion.

  5. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    I am posting this comment on the behalf of Publius II:

    Delegate Lingamfelter should be commended for realizing that the passage of Abuser Fees was a terrible mistake. Regrettably, while many Republicans will “pay a price at the polls in November” for Abuser Fees, the primary sponsors of the this legislation, Delegates Dave Albo (no opponent) and Tom Rust (under-funded opponent) will suffer no consequences at the polls.

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