Virginia to suspend licenses of 5% of drivers?

Article Here

The Virginia General Assembly State Auditor has just released a report stating that nonpayment of the "abuser fees," civil penalties automatically accruing to Virginia drivers upon conviction of reckless driving, drunk driving, and other traffic misdemeanors and felonies, is prevalent. As the fees range from $250 - $1,050 per year for three years, the idea that people simply don't have the money to pay the fees and accordingly don't is believable. Nonetheless, only 13% of the fees assessed for misdemeanors are paid, and only 5% for felonies.

(As a side note, I am not actually sure why the law included the felonies, as it's hard to pay your fines if you are sitting in prison and the extent of your economic activities is trading cigarettes for protection.)

The Auditor's conclusion is that the DMV may have to suspend 300,000 Virginia licenses in the coming year, or more than 5% of the total number of current drivers' licenses. I don't recommend disobedience, but it does appear in this case that if nobody pays it, what are they going to do?

There are several legislative proposals in the hopper for this year, so it will be interesting to see what happens. For a possible judicial solution to the matter, see the model brief (which is not necessarily in the form as I would present it, but to each his own, and I haven't written my own) available here.