Equality for Some with Virginia's New Driving Fees

I like to think that I'm a fairly safe driver. I have been driving for about thirteen years now and in that time I have had a handful of incidents that required my being pulled over. In all cases it was exceeding the speed limit. I paid my fees and went on my merry way and thankfully I didn't get any demerit points. It's a good thing too because with the new driving fees being enforced by the state of Virginia, such driving infractions can lead to high costs for drivers. But only if you're from the state of Virginia. Under the new driving rules, any violations of the law will have new, higher cost fees associated with them. The hope is to deter drivers from breaking the laws anymore and driving safer. Unfortunately, by enforcing these rules against only Virginia residents, the laws will hit residents harder than out-of-state visitors and this is not sitting well with many Virginia residents.

What we in Northern Virginia tend to forget however is that if we travel a little farther south, Virginia gets much larger and continues on for another few hundred miles. That being said, it's not like drivers from Maryland and DC are driving all the way down there to break the law. Sure there are many transitory drivers that enter the state at times but they are not constantly coming in and breaking the law. On the whole if we choose to look at the number of people from Maryland or DC entering Virginia on a daily basis for work, you'll likely find that the number of violations by non-Virginia residents is far less than the violations by Virginia residents. Still, that doesn't mean that only Virginia residents should be penalized for their infractions.

By selectively applying the driving fees to only residents what you have is a situation where there is no longer equality under the law. Essentially, the situation is akin to applying the death penalty for murders committed in Virginia but only if the murderer is a Virginia resident. That is an extreme example and isn't really the case but it helps illustrate the point that what is being applied is not fair and legal. As I said, the majority of infractions within the state will naturally be applied to Virginia residents but by limiting to them, the state is not carrying favor with neighboring states nor is it helping to enforce safer driving rules within Virginia. Sure, Virginia drivers may stick to the speed limit from now on but then if someone from out of state comes in on the highways is it going to turn into a speedway? Probably. That's because the rules won't be applied to outside drivers.

As far as the idea and concept of higher penalties for driving violations go, I think the fees are a step in the right direction. Knowing that I could pay up to $700 for going 10 miles over the speed limit will certainly have me think a bit longer before pushing down on the accelerator but then again, if I know that at the most I'll get a ticket and a warning (if I'm from out of state) then the only delay will be in the microsecond it takes the impulse to go from my brain down to my foot to push the gas. If the state of Virginia truly wishes to make the roads safer they need to apply the rules equally to all. Perhaps it's a Northern Virginia mentality that there just as many non-Virginia drivers around as there are Virginia drivers but if the rules are applied to everybody and not just residents, there will be greater acceptance and who knows; perhaps the roads will become safer.