July 19, 2007
High Fines for Speeding Anger Virginians
By IAN URBINA
ARLINGTON Va., July 18 - Call it the lead-footers' rebellion.

Earlier this month, Virginia began imposing huge new fines - some as high as
$2,500 - for residents caught driving 20 miles above the speed limit or
engaging in other reckless driving.

The fines were to raise money for road projects, but they have also raised
Cain, with more than 100,000 people having signed a petition calling for
their repeal.

All 140 members of Virginia's legislature are up for re-election in the
fall, and some say they have been deluged with angry calls and e-mail from
constituents threatening to vote them out of office if they do not ask Gov.
Tim Kaine to call a special session of the legislature to reconsider the
law.

"You have no idea how angry people are," said Delegate Robert G. Marshall,
Republican of Prince William County, who did not vote for the bill that
included the new fines and is leading the call for a special session.

"Criminal and civil penalties shouldn't be created for raising money," Mr.
Marshall said, adding that constituents had stopped him on the street and
even in the post office and called his office to voice frustration with the
new fines. "You don't want to turn our police into gun-toting tax
collectors. They're supposed to be officers of the peace, nothing else."

Rather than raise money for road projects, he said, the state should stop
diverting money allocated for such projects to other uses.

If two-thirds of the House of Delegates and the Senate petition for a
special session, Mr. Kaine is obligated to call one, Mr. Marshall said,
adding that he was not sure how many legislators would be willing to support
such a request. Republicans control both houses.

The $65 million expected to be raised annually from the higher fines was
intended as a partial substitute for a statewide tax increase, which Mr.
Kaine, a Democrat, supported but the House opposed. Mr. Kaine then backed
the new fines and has resisted the effort to revisit the issue.

"We've heard the public's concerns, and we take that seriously," said the
governor's press secretary, Kevin Hall. "The legislature can revisit these
issues when they reconvene in January."

Under the law, which took effect July 1, the new civil penalty for driving
20 miles an hour or more over the speed limit, a violation defined by the
state as reckless driving, will be $1,050. First-time drunken drivers will
face a civil penalty of $2,250. In both cases, judges can also continue to
impose fines of up to $2,500, plus court costs.

"The fines are ridiculously high, and they don't improve safety," said Bryan
Ault, a 28-year-old software technician who lives in Alexandria and who
started an online petition, petitiononline.com/va3202, that calls for the
repeal of the fines. The petition, which Mr. Ault started July 6, had more
than 110,000 signatures as of Wednesday.

Mr. Ault said legislators could raise the gasoline tax, which would affect
everyone more equitably, or they could levy smaller penalties.

Delegate David B. Albo, Republican of Fairfax County, a main proponent of
the high fines, said that a one-cent increase in the gasoline tax would
generate about $50 million a year, but that replacing the fines with a
higher gasoline tax would undermine the transportation financing bill that
was passed.

"It took two years to get all the different groups, from Realtors, to
developers, to citizens groups, on board," Mr. Albo said. "If you take away
one of the fees from one group, every other group is going to start saying
they want the entire transportation bill reconsidered."

Clay Morad, a driver in Arlington who signed the petition, said: "There are
other ways to get these road projects done. I'd be more than willing to pay
an extra dollar per year in taxes to avoid having to worry about getting a
$2,500 fine for going above the speed limit."

While describing the fines as draconian, other drivers admitted they were
having a positive effect. "I have mixed emotions about the issue," said
Stephanie Haley, standing alongside her family's silver Volvo station wagon
in Arlington.

"This is going to hit the poor the worst because they will be least able to
handle such a huge fine," Ms. Haley said. "Someone living paycheck to
paycheck is going to be wiped out by a small mistake."

Just two weeks before the new fines took effect, she said, she got a $250
ticket for traveling 86 m.p.h. in a 65 m.p.h. zone on Interstate 95.

"I have to admit it," Ms. Haley said, "that getting the ticket and realizing
the size of these new fines has made me more aware, and I'm driving more
carefully now."