Beach judge rules bad-driver fees are constitutional

These judges keep their jobs thru appointments by the very politicians who support this unconstitutional mess.
Therefore, don't you see a little good ol boy support here.
Besides a General District Court Judge's decision means very little. Only when this issue is decided at the State Supreme Court Level is there any real meaning to this decision.

Seems people justify doing 95 on 95...don't break the law and you don't have anything to worry about!

...bring back and install more red light cameras!!! Man, those things kept traffic moving because it halted the line of 5 cars from the cross direction from coarsing through the intersection when they knew they had a red light. Don't want to pay thousands for a speeding ticket? Don't speed. Don't want to pay thousands for a DUI, like I received years ago when I was ok, but hit a checkpoint? Don't drink and drive. It can't be any more simple.

all i can say is this has made me a more cautious driver. i refuse to give them any money.

You don't have to break a law to be ticketed and fined in Virginia. They will rob you whether you earned your ticket or not. I was pulled over while driving the speed limit and accused of driving 13 miles over! I fought it in court and the judge completely disregarded evidence and said guilty. I also know someone who was nearly in an accident because someone came flying from two lanes to left to cut him off and make a right turn in front of him. He flicked off the insane driver and a cop who witnessed the whole thing pulled him over for flicking the guy off! He first wrote up the ticket as wreckless driving and then the judge let him change it in court to aggressive driving because they couldn't justify wreckless! VB is garbage

Just because a "judge" in Va Beach says the law is constitutional does NOT mean that what he says goes, you can call it what you want (fees/fines) either way the state of Virginia is a reciprocating state with a number of other states, so there IS a way to enforce these "fees" if they are licensed in those states. I would have no problem with these if they were for everyone driving. To be honest I would not have expected anything else from the city of V.B. and I am sure their "police" dept will issue tickets such as these like they were handing out tickets to the policemans ball, as I know (from first hand experience) they railroad the citizens. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

No problem. Obey the law and you won't have to pay the fine. Why the problem? Seems there are a bunch of lawyers that support people breaking the law. Well, I guess someone has to pay their mortgage!

then you have nothing to worry about. I like the idea of Virginia is for Safe Drivers. My only problem is it should apply to every license plate and not just VA. Hoepfully we can get that changed.

1.Did everyone see/sign the petition? 2.I am all for doubling or tripling the fees for drunk/agressive/felony drivers. I wrote so many of our representatives about removing just the "minor offenses" part. 3.Everyone who responded said "Not me/It wasn't me". Hilarious - just like a Family Circus comic. And like that matters. I'm voting for someone new in every upcoming election - if they can't represent Virginians, then they shouldn't represent Virginians.

I am all for making the roads safer, but it should not be done with an unconstitutional law. Will this really make the roads safer? If someone is willing to drive drunk or reckless, who is to say they won't do it again after there license has been suspended for not paying the fee's?

The reason VA drivers are targeted is because these are fee's & not fine's. VA has no way to collect fees from out of state drivers, but they can collect fines. So why not make them a fine instead of a fee? To legally make these fees a fine requires about 2-3 years. Richmond didn't want to wait that long for the transportation money because all the cities wanted road improvements now & Richmond couldn't come up with a good plan. So, we get HRTA, NVTA & Fee's, transportation is no longer their problem but a Police & local gov't problem. Personally, the fee's should be fine's applied to all. Richmond should be doing their job & not passing the buck. Any person that would be good for Gov't won't run due to a dislike of a politician's image.

Yup---leave it to Virginia Beach, a city that so obviously does not give a darn about the Constitution, whose politicians are arrogant enough to believe that they have to think FOR us...enough so that they feel they can tell you how many times you can drive around the block, or put up cameras so they can spy on you (a total waste of money, BTW)
Just another nail in the coffin of our American "freedom", which has become just a buzzword for politicians and a sick joke to the rest of the world.

Is'nt this considered profiling......its the same as stopping a person for the color of their skin,the way they dress....I always thought profiling was illegal..If you listen to a scanner you can hear the calls come in re:speeders ....the first question the officer asks "is it a Va. driver......which shows they are targeting us and letting out of state drivers drive drive as fast as they want.....if you need to charge these high fees then apply to all drivers....

For everyone who is being so critical of Judge Depew and the state, let's stop and think for a minute. The defendant in this case was charged with aggressive driving - that means he is one of those morons who rides your bumper, cuts you off, weaves in and out of traffic, passes everything in sight at 90 mph - and kills at least one person a week around here. For years readers have been whining about how the courts aren't tough enough on DUIs and aggressive drivers, yet now Judge Depew is the bad guy for slam dunking a violator. What's wrong with this picture? Whatever it takes to get these bums off the road, we should be in favor of it.

What's the ole saying, "misery loves company"? Now dangerous drivers are upset that other dangerous drivers might get off cheaper? Funny. I hope my home state of MD adopts something like this before I move back. It would be nice to see the ones that drive up the prices for the rest of us pay more of their share. And it would be nice to see an article explaining the Judge's decision. Might shut up the ones who condemn it without having a clue why he did. On second thought, better not, they probably wouldn't read it until they were doing 80 down I-64!

Has any one else noticed that there seems to be an increase in crime as the police are collecting fees not protecting the public? My other comment is people are not reading the law if you think that speeding and DD are the only things that earn you fees - no blinker during a lane change - fee. Bad brakes - fee (are cops ASE certified mechanics now)?

If these civil remedial fees are supposed to target bad drivers, shouldn't said driver have a past history that suggests they are a bad driver?

The ruling does not mean that the fees are Constitutional, it simply means that the law was not found unconstitutional based on the 14th Amendment equal protection arguments advanced in this case. - There is another, far more comprehensive case in another venue which has not been decided. - In particular, HB3202, which established these fees as well as the HRTA would seem to violate the Virginia Constitution's single purpose clause and the requirement for a referendum when bonds are issued against the credit of a locality. - Even if the law does survive all Constitutional challenges, it remains bad policy to use the courts as an instrument of taxation. HB3202 should be torn up and replaced with honest and rational transportation policies.

The stated purpose for these fines over and over in national articles is to raise roadway funds. It is a tax. These outrageous fines are not intended to make the roads safer. You have effectively changed the role of your police officers from law enforcement to tax collection. You all seem to forget as well that not all who are charged are guilty and this changing of police role encourages them to hand out questionable tickets that are nearly impossible to fight. You have to flee that area to see how ridiculous it looks. Perception here of VA is: a tourist attraction named Trashmore, high taxes, speed traps and ridiculous fines to pay for roads. Why would a tourist visit that place? I'm tired of being ridiculed for being from there.

This is not about the infraction but instead imposing fees based on resident status. What's next, foreign car driver fees for the type of car you are driving at the time. And besides, taxes and fees are always being raised for our roads but I see no improvement. Where is the money going?

We know who will get all the fines; poor people without the financial resources to hire one of the "chosen attorneys". What do the legislators in Virginia do; lay in bed at night look up at the ceiling and ask what is the next stupid thing that I can do?" To be the birthplace of the presidents I do not think that they are looking at you with favor. What does that matter? It is what you want that is most important the rest of us do not matter. To the rest: These are your tax dollars and your votes that they are being abused. Prehaps what you need is a good Tsunami! Sounds like trailer thinking to me.

Drive like you have a brain and you won't have any problems,what part of that don't you understand? The hot rod days are over live with it.

What about all the people who live in Virginia and maintain an out of State driver's license? Are they exempt? That doesn't seem fair. It seems that if you are going to impose fines, it should be based on the infraction, not someone's residency status.

It is a FEE, not a FINE. The only way you will be responsible for the FEE is if you commit a class 1 misdemeanor driving infraction. If you CHOOSE to drive drunk, recklessly, or with a suspended license, driving in Va gets more expensive for you. All drivers from other states will still be responsible for FINES, not the FEE's that YOU agree to by being a licensed driver in VA. If you are really that bad of a driver and feel you will be paying the fee's some day, do us all a favor and move. Our street will be much safer.

This isn't news to me. I've been in traffic court in front of Judge Depew and if I had had videotaped evidence proving my innonence he would have still found me guilty. A couple of attorneys I know were in court that day and said to me later "you were robbed!"

I was born here and raised here, but i can't continue to live here!! this state sux!!! leaving as soon as i possibly can..

As long has you follow the speed limit and don't swerve in and out of traffic, or try and exit from the left lane, then you really have nothing to worry about.

Speeding taxation is indicative of a state government out of control. Virginia has a budget surplus, yet, more taxes are needed? The greedy Governor and legislators should be recalled. If any money is needed, stop spending it on unjust matters such the illegal immigrant's health care, education, food stamps, etc. America is for Americans - not anyone who steals across our borders. Stop the speed tax. Stop illegal immigration.

O wow! A Va Beach judge said this?? What a surprise....

Samuel M. of Goose Creek has got it right, especially about "diplomatic immunity" for non-Virginia drivers. I see nothing wrong with the new fees. A vehicle is a deadly weapon in the hands of an aggressive driver. It's time Virginia cracked down. But.....on roads where any Federal funding is used for maintenance and/or construction, or if the road is part of the Federal Highway System or Interstate System, the fees need to apply to ALL drivers who are caught....not just Virginians. If you do the right thing, you won't get caught. It's so stupid simple.

$65 m is a drop in the bucket, and it seems to be poor public policy given the current debate. To think about it, to install toll booths, traffic cameras, ezpass, and everything else that is needed to spend money to use more sophisticated means of enforcing the traffic laws that had already existed costs a whole lot of money. But this is the cheaper solution. Way to go Virginia, spending next to nothing and making a dollar out of 15 cents as usual, the American way!