Originally Posted by
dougmc
It's a 375% jump
At least in Texas, they also charge you a pretty substantial (not "token") surcharge for your DL renewal (or just in general? Not sure.) if you have DWIs (or an excessive number of points) on your recent record.
More on the program here. It's totally a revenue opportunity rather than "a responsibility program", but either way ... they screw people who get DWIs hard. Possibly hard enough that they get the idea that it's a bad idea?
They screw those who drive without insurance too. A $500 or so ticket, plus $250+4%/year for three years? I guess it does make Virginia's fee look "token" in comparison.
A side note, bicycle related -- the City of Austin has made it clear that they will assign points on this program for offenses incurred on a bicycle, even though the
relevant code says that only offenses involving the operation of a motor vehicle apply (and a bike is not a motor vehicle.) Obviously DWI and no insurance offenses don't apply to bikes (in Texas, DWI law says motor vehicle, other states may be different) but running a red light a few times and such would.
Either way, I imagine somebody could fight that in court and win, but I don't know that anybody has.
A few years ago, the commonwealth of Virginia passed a $900 statewide fine for driving sans license. The outcry against this "unfair" law was notable, and it was quickly rescinded, along with greatly increased speeding fines. The auto lobby lined up and whined very loudly...
I talked with my DWI pal a bit, and yeah, they get the screws put on them-- he estimates by the time it's all done,he'll be out about 10,000$ total, between insurance, fines, and court costs.
As to the DWI on a bike, the big difference between a bike and a car is the drunk is most likely to hurt himself on a bike. One good pothole in the dark should do it. Granted, you can hurt yourself just fine in a car too, but the 2000 pounds of hurtling steel can can put a hurt on someone else purty darn good. I'll admit to more than a few drunken bike rides in my past, but I've never driven a car drunk. The chance for catastrophe in a car is exponentially greater. Even fueled with a liter or so of Jamey's, I can grasp that. So the fines and charges on a car should be a lot greater-- it's all in a metric of potential damage, I think-- sorta the same reason cyclists don't require insurance.