Jessica Hodges thought she was in labor, so she set off to the hospital in her car to try to get there in time. She was pulled over by police for going 57mph in a 35mph zone and charged with reckless driving.
Could the cop not see tell she was in labor? Maybe he didn’t believe her. Still she was detained long enough for the reckless driving ticket to be issued before she was able to make it to the hospital. Luckily, it was a false alarm.
She was found guilty of the charge of reckless driving. She was one of the first people in Virginia to be hit with an “abusive driver fee” of $1050 on top of the $100 fine for the ticket and the court costs.
The “abusive driver fees” range from $700 to $3000 and were designed to pay for Virginia’s transportation projects. And who better to pay for transportation projects than pregnant women on the way to the hospital?
I’m not the only one who thinks the fees are ridiculous. There have been 170,000 signatures to an online petition to repeal the fees. Even two Virginia judges have found them to be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. If you don’t live in Virginia, they can not collect the outrageous fees from you, so they are only raping their own with these fees.
Hodges plans to appeal her conviction. She says she was rushed in court and did not get a chance to explain to the judge the circumstances of why she was speeding. She hopes to have the opportunity to explain to a new judge, who she also hopes will dismiss the case.
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