The Public Policy
Water’s Hot
Virginia's automotive “abuser fees” get dumped, for the moment.
(Page 2 of 2)
A few years will pass. Then, someone will propose that the fines be applied to yet more offenses. “Public safety!” will be the cry. And just as seat belt laws went from no-argument laws requiring that small children be restrained to “primary enforcement” laws that empower police to pull adults over for failing to “buckle up,” so, too, will “abuser fees” eventually encompass routine and purely technical infractions, such as simple speeding.
And we’ll have come full circle.
There’s just too much money at stake; too much potential control over the masses to be passed up for long.
To paraphrase Arnold: They’ll be back. Count on it.
And next time, we will probably not notice the water’s getting warm again; at least, not before it’s too late to jump.
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
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vouchercodes | 1.5.11 @ 8:46AM
Thank you for sharing this.