More bitchin about our stupid new Civil Remedial Fees crap

So here are some of the Civil Remedial Fees I mentioned...
Current mood: tired
Category: News and Politics

Just so you know, here are some of the numerous "civil remedial fees" we Virginians, and ONLY we Virginians will have to pay, should we ever get tagged for any of the offenses, regardless of reason:

Driving on a suspended license - 1st offense.........750
3rd offense in 10 years.............................3000
aggressive driving (judgment call here)...............1050
Improper operation of a motorcycle
(another judgment call)..................................900
operate motor vehicle w/below standard tires
(whatever the hell THAT means)......................900
Not having a drivers license on you
(yeah, you better have yours)............................900
Learner's permit violation...................................900
Reckless Driving.................................................1050
DUI and related.................................................2250
Driving after drinking, under 21, regardless of BAC..2250
Various Driving Misdemeandors..............................900
Like Refusing Blood/Breath test for WHATEVER reason
Any Driving Felonies...........................................3000

And, remember, ALL of these fees are above and beyond the fines that we would get charged for these infractions... and NONE of them can be waived... EVER.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the bit about how long they will now keep track of our "bad driving points"....

11 years

no, I'm not joking.

FYI - Most insurance companies don't even keep track of that for more than 3 years...

and if we gather up 8 demerit points during those 11 years? We have to pay extra to keep the privilege of driving.

Those fees are $100 a year for as long as there are eight or more demerit points, plus $75 for each demerit beyond eight, up to a max of $700.

A speeding 0-9 mph ticket will get you 3 demerits. 10-19 gets you 4, if I am not mistaken. Other infractions generally score you 3-4 demerits, mmkay?

But don't worry - see, with a whole good year of driving, you get to add A WHOLE 1 POINT back for "good behavior". (You can, it must be stated, take a safe driver course for 5 bonus points... but you can only do that once every 5 years... or maybe they've changed it to 11 years too... I don't know for certain)


SOOOO... if you should, say, get 3 speeding tickets in those 11 years, you could end up paying an extra $175-400 PER YEAR until you get those points back to 8 or less. The max fee for demerit points is a mere $700 per year.

Of course, this only affects Virginians, so like I said, speed away, oh ye tourists!

Personally, I think the Virginia State Senate needs to be taken out back and beaten.

And before you misread me and think that I am simply complaining about not being allowed to drive "badly", I must reiterate my major complaints about this law.

1. The judge cannot waive a fee, even if the reasons are good (like my suspended license tale of woe from years ago)
2. It violates the specific amendment against "excessive fines" - since WE are THE PEOPLE and WE are obviously decrying these amounts, then certainly they must be viewed as excessive
3. The whole 11 years of tracking my driving record and only 8 demerit points before getting spanked?? You could get that over 3 years with, let's see, a ticket for malfunctioning equipment (like a headlight that is out), a speeding ticket and, say, a rolling stop. Over THREE years!! (if you get a ticket, you don't get that 1 big point back for good behavior, see?) Normally, most people would say that isn't really that bad of a driving record.... and God forbid you forget your driver's license in your other pants!!! (That'll be 900 bucks please, thank you)
4. It violates the constitutionality of equal protection under the law - this is truly my biggest issue - if we gotta pay, why shouldn't EVERYONE??
   

So there ya go... last I checked, there were some 60,000 online petition signatures. Keep 'em rolling in! Write your representative directly, too!

Highway Robbery

I'm sure by now that many of you have heard about the ridiculous new "civil remedial fees" that Virginia residents have to submit to when driving in their own, home state.

Now, several supporters of these fees simply say, "Well, don't drive like an idiot."

I can't agree with them more. People who drive like idiots do cause a lot of accidents. People who drink and drive cause a lot of accidents. Yes, they should be punished.

But (and again, it's a big but...)

They just don't get it.

The government is creating legislation that is unfair in its scope and outrageous in its structure, not to mention the major question about its very constitutionality.

Here is the 8th amendment to our Constitution.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

But who is it, exactly, that determines what is excessive? Well, WE do... at least we, in theory, do so through our elected representatives.

"Basically, what we have here is a failure to communicate..." Our fine state legislators have somehow gotten it in their heads that we feel these fines are adequate and just.

Of course, let's not mention some of these fines, already extant in Virginia law:

Grand larceny - a FELONY. Has a fine of up to 2500. This, of course, can be waived, just like all other fines in the legal code. - I guess speeding is, oh, about equal to Grand larceny, eh?

Class 5 and 6 Felonies in Virginia carry a maximum fine of up to 2500, in fact... and 1 to 10 years in jail.

But every one of the fines can be waived arbitrarily by the judge.

NOT SO with these new "civil remediation fees".

And don't even get me started about that name... makes it sound like they are punishing children. How condescending must these legislators be to rule from on high and smack our wee hands for being bad. Bad driver! Bad bad driver! Here's a $3000 timeout for you.

I was at school and sent off a check for a ticket I received. Chesterfield County processed the check... but they sure didn't account for it in my DMV records. So I was riding around with a suspended license for 6 months, when I was tagged for it at a surprise check point one night.

Thank God this happened years ago, or I'd be kissing 750 bucks goodbye for no good reason.

Did I mention said fees can run up to $3000??

Did I mention that these fees ABSOLUTELY CANNOT BE WAIVED?

So you could, in theory, go commit grand larceny, be found guilty, get probabtion and no fine and walk.... but if you were driving on a suspended license (EVEN IF YOU WERE NEVER INFORMED IT WAS SUSPENDED), you would have to pay $750 PLUS court costs and fees?

But the REAL topper?

The BIG cherry on top?

The straw that really irks most of us
law-abiding Virginians, in fact?

IT ONLY APPLIES TO VIRGINIA RESIDENTS

So recklessly speed away, all you out-of-town visitors to our state. Drive drunk on our roads and you get a smack on the hand...

IF THEY EVEN PULL YOU.

Since we are now looking for highway revenue via these fees, who do YOU think will be pulled first? Do you really, REALLY think they'll stop some Jersey boy rolling by at 80mph on a 55mph highway, when he could nab one of us poor saps doing "only" 76 in a 55 zone? - and if you drive on I-95, you KNOW that traffic speed - which is the TRUE safe speed to drive - often runs in the 15-25 over the limit neighborhood...

Ummm... one lil other thing - That speeding 20 and over, which is NOT automatically reckless driving in Virginia, will get you smacked for $2250 my friend...

The 14th Amendment of the Constitution states:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

And yet, here we are, Virginians... suffering from less than equal protection in our own freakin back yard??

Screw that.

Is THAT why we are a Commonwealth and NOT a state?

DAMMIT

Less than a week from the wedding....

we had to reschedule it.

The simple reasons follow:

1. project at work needed to be finished. ABSOLUTELY
2. family
3. friends

You wouldn't think it would be so difficult to have a "simple" wedding, right? Just simple "hop-on-the-beach-do-you-yup-do-you-yup" ceremony, right?

Well... how wrong I was.

New date? September 1st.

Now, I just gotta survive that long...