Virginia Delegate David Albo wants to drastically increase traffic fines in this fine state to fund various transporation projects. Albo’s bill would add significant fines for reckless driving and repeat traffic offenders on to the existing bevvy of fines and fees faced by ill-behaved motorists. A $150 fine for excessive speeding, for example, would see his fine increased from $150 to $900.

In addition to the troubling practice of using traffic laws (which are supposed to promote public safety) to generate revenue (thereby giving the state a financial interest in insuring that people continue to break the law), Albo’s bill comes at a time when the state of Virginia is running a $1 billion surplus.

But that’s not even the most amusing part. The most amusing part is that Virginia’s is a part-time citizen legislature. Virginia delegates have day jobs, too. Wanna’ guess what Del. Albo’s day job is?

He’s a defense attorney, specializing in traffic violations.

Looks like he’s about to get more business.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2005 at 11:09 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.