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Our View
Drive Slowly
The speed limit in the Town of Washington is 25
mph. The speed limit in Sperryville is 25 mph.
Once you leave Sperryville you can kick up to 35 mph as you head toward Woodville. If you get on U.S. 211 you can push the petal to 55 mph but it’s on this stretch that the tendency is to go faster. Not a good idea at any time but made even more hazardous to your pocketbook with the new drivers fees.
This may be the summer to think about seriously slowing down now that we are into July and some of the General Assembly’s new laws have kicked in, strictures that carry penalties that clearly demonstrate that our lawmakers may have gotten carried away.
Consider this: Under the “Driver Responsibility Tax” slipped into the state’s massive transportation funding bill passed in April, a driver who repeatedly creeps up to 70 on that stretch of U.S. 211 faces a fine of $2,500, up to a year in jail, and a new mandatory tax of $1,050.
The tax can go as high as $3,000 in addition to a points’ tax that tops out at $700 a year for as many years as the points remain on a driver’s record. Being stopped for going 70 mph on U.S. 211 is worth six points.
Lawmakers apparently recognized that these are draconian measures; they have put a structure in place whereby offenders can pay off their debt to society over three years.
It is anticipated that the commonwealth can raise an additional $65 million to $120 million this year with the new fine structure in place.
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