Is increased enforcement worth the precedent of camera surveillance?

Senator Mark Herring and Delegate Tom Rust, both in districts covering a substantial part of Loudoun County, have proposed legislation that would allow the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to install a "photo-monitoring" or "automatic vehicle identification" system on the Dulles Access road to ticket "backtrackers" using the Access road.

While there may be cases where public safety requires the use of extreme measures such as this, increasing the efficiency of ticket and toll revenue collection is not one of them. It seems our two legislators did not learn the lesson of HB 3202 - the Transportation Bill associated with "Abusive Driver Fees" and setting up the unelected taxing authority later thrown out as unconstitutional. Gimmicks such as this, designed to use the power of the state to raise revenues, are not worth instituting the beginnings of a Big Brother state.

Virginians do not want to live in a surveillance society and, when accused of a violation, they want the opportunity to face their accuser. If scofflaw-created congestion on the Dulles Access road requires it, current law provides for traffic enforcement, including ticketing, by the authorities. That action reduces infractions without sacrificing anyone's' autonomy or privacy. If passed, this bill would, as Delegate Rust alluded to, set the precedent for instituting surveillance systems elsewhere in the state to help raise revenues.

A vital principle, freedom from unwarranted governmental intrusion into our private lives, is at stake here. The goal of increasing efficiency in revenue collection should never be allowed to trample the principles that serve as a foundation for our liberty. SB 667 and HB 1295 start us down a perilous road, just to collect more tolls and "fees". It's not worth it.