Virginia has a law that went into effect July 1 that might be worth watching here in Maryland. It?s called an “abusive driver law,” and it means huge fines for Virginia residents who are caught and convicted of multiple traffic offenses.
These super fines already are in place in New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Texas and are admittedly a way to raise extra revenue at a time when the money available for transportation repairs and additions is becoming scarce.
The regular fines that apply to moving violations in Virginia will still go into a fund for school improvements, as they have been for years. In a sense, then, these new fines are a way to circumvent the old system and add new revenue.
Here?s an example of how they work: If a truck driver fails to pull into a weigh station, the fine is $35 plus $61 in court processing fees. On top of that, the driver has to pay, under the new law, a civil remedial fee of $300 per year for three years. That means that what used to be a $96 fine is now $996.
The reason this might be something that legislators in Maryland might watch closely is that Virginia expects to raise in the vicinity of $200 million each year from these added fees. Most of this money will go into the transportation fund to pay for road maintenance, road improvements and transit.
The thing that seems a little shady about this whole thing is that the Virginia legislator who proposed the law and got it passed is David Albo. Albo is a partner in one of Virginia?s largest law firms. Its specialty? Traffic cases.
If this sort of law catches on and proves to be the moneymaker that lawmakers think it will be, then there is a good chance it could end up on this side of the river.
