A major goal of the American judicial system is that the punishment should fit the crime — the police chief of Purcellville, Virginia, wants to make sure that tenet applies to drivers.
“The state code does not provide us the ability to charge a driver with failure to pay full-time attention,” Police Chief Barry Dufek told the town council Tuesday night.
Dufek asked the council to change the town code so officers could issue a citation for distracted driving. A ticket for distracted driving would result in a $250 fine, but no points on a driver’s license.
“A good example is somebody has a dog in their face while they’re driving, and they can’t see what they’re doing,” offered Dufek. Another example: “They’re getting something out of the back seat and their eyes are off the road.”
Until now, if a driver’s inattention contributed to a fender bender in Purcellville, a responding officer might issue a ticket for the state charge of reckless driving. In minor cases, Dufek believes that charge is too harsh.
“Reckless driving is, by state code, ‘endangering life, limb or property.’ That’s pretty severe, especially with the penalty that comes along with it.” The maximum penalty for the Class 1 misdemeanor is 12 months in jail, and a fine of $2,500, although Dufek said that punishment is rarely imposed by judges.
“If you get into a traffic crash, and you hit the back of a vehicle and your intended purpose was obviously not to do that, and we charge you with reckless driving, because that’s all we have, I think the (rebuttal) to that is ‘that seems pretty severe,'” Dufek said.
The new citation would give officers discretion to stop a distracted driver, but wouldn’t necessarily subject the driver to receiving a fine.
“We’re a small town, and sometimes education is more appropriate than enforcement, anyway. But there are times where somebody does the same thing over and over again, and education doesn’t work, and enforcement is appropriate,” said Dufek.
The town council voted unanimously to adopt the change to the town code. Several other jurisdictions in Northern Virginia have voted to adjust their codes for similar distracted driving tickets.
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