Don’t ticket me, bro

A General District Court judge in Virginia Beach ruled last week that the state's civil remedial fees for drivers are constitutional.

This is the second setback for opponents of the state's new "bad driver" fees in as many months - a Richmond-area judge made a similar ruling in August.

These fees, adopted by the General Assembly earlier this year and effective as of July 1, sound great on paper and in sound bites. They're supposed to keep unsafe drivers off the roads and get us all to slow down, stay in our lanes, and take a pass on that beer with dinner. All are laudable goals. Unfortunately, these fees have less to do with making Virginia roads safer and more to do with how we're going to pay to build more of them. And that aspect has put everyone - drivers, police officers, and judges - in a difficult situation.

It may seem like I'm late to the party on this topic; for the past two months, there has been quite a debate. But I assure you, I've been following this story quite closely - I've been an active participant, you might say. But now that I've settled up with the Orange County clerk, I can report first hand.

From the moment I was pulled over by Lake of the Woods on Route 3, these fees were the 800-pound gorilla in the corner. I should have had a bumper sticker that said "King Kong is my Co-Pilot." I really had no idea how fast I was going; it was twilight on the Fourth of July, and there were very few cars on the road. I wasn't even aware that the speed limit had suddenly dropped on a road I'm not too familiar with (east to Fredericksburg would be way down my list of "escape routes" if a situation ever called for a mass exodus of Culpeper.)
My first thought was the usual one: I'd been doing something I wasn't supposed to do, and I'd been caught; I'd take responsibility for my actions and pay the ticket.

But when the officer informed me that what I thought was a relatively minor infraction was actually 26 mph over the posted limit, I did a double take (while King Kong just turned his hands up and shrugged). In an instant this had become a very serious situation.

I'd hate to admit it, except that it was the reason I was going faster than I usually would in the first place, but my crying son in the back seat saved me that night.

The officer, sensing a tense situation in the car, used his own discretion (which I didn't know he was allowed to do) and sited me for speeding and not "reckless driving."

There was Kong again, this time on the officer's shoulder, whispering,  "Is a guy driving a Taurus station wagon with a 1-year-old in the back really a 'speed demon' and do you really want to waste more of your time in court if you give the heftier ticket-"

I saw that officer again a few weeks ago when I did go to court. While I wasn't fighting a $1,000 "bad-drive" ticket, I was still looking at six points on my license and no wiggle room for the next five years - I didn't want to get hit with the new fees drivers with eight points or more face yearly.

I was first to see the judge, but certainly wouldn't be the last. My sense was many of the people who might have simply mailed in their tickets with payment were now all having their day in court. And King Kong was there as well, sitting right behind the judge, who seemed a little annoyed to see me (with a simple speeding ticket) there at all.

He asked how I would plead. I responded "Guilty," and he looked up and addressed the courtroom. He told everyone that for each year they'd been "ticket free," he'd drop a mile off their speed. He focused back to me, asked how long it had been since I'd had a ticket (12 years) and instantly 26 m.p.h. became 14. Kong was smiling behind the judge who looked like he was in for another long day.

Stopping by the clerks officer on my way out of the courtroom, I realized the one positive from these new fees: Virginia drivers have never been happier to write $150 checks.

NEXT WEEK: I'll discuss the more serious unintended (or perhaps intended-) consequences of this law.

James Clements is a Culpeper resident and
independent columnist who appears each Monday.
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