Blog
Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation Convention
August 18, 2010
The second weekend in October, the members of tea party, 912 and other community groups from across the great state of Virginia will be gathering in Richmond for the state’s first tea party convention. The Virginia Tea Party Patriot Federation Convention to be held in Richmond, Virginia on October 8th and 9th, 2010. The Convention is an opportunity for people from across the state, who are committed to defending the Constitution, to come together for training, networking and planning leading into the November 2010 elections, and beyond. The Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation is comprised of over 30 groups of patriots across Virginia who are committed to returning our Federal government to its restricted, Constitutional role.
The state of Virginia is home to one of the most organized and unified tea party coalitions in the United States. Some of the largest groups are lead by home school moms, who are committed to preserving freedom for their children. Jamie Radtke, President of the Richmond Tea Party and Chair of the Federation recently won the Sam Adams Alliance Tea Party Award for her work with the Federation. As a group, the Federation is developing a legislative agenda for their state, in addition to holding numerous educational and outreach events. Mrs. Radtke said, “We desire to educate, motivate and activate thousands of tea party activists at the Virginia Tea Party Patriot Convention. With thousands expected to attend, this will be the largest Tea Party Convention to date. We must be committed in our resolve to sustain this amazing tea party movement and this convention is just one way we can help do that.”
Key speakers include Dick Morris, Herman Cain, Lou Dobbs and Ken Cuccinelli. American Majority will teach attending activists and candidates these topics:
- “Implementing Freedom”- how to run a campaign, from filing your paperwork to election day.
- “Becoming a Social Capitalist”-how to use new media tools to build your presence and reputation online.
- “Understanding the System”- have a historical perspective of how the perceived role of the Federal Government has changed in the last century and what issues must be addressed to return us to the vision of the Founding Fathers.
American Majority believes that it is critical to the liberty movement for members to unite, organize and receive training on how to most effective. We want to see people move from holding protest signs to attending local government meetings and asking questions, to running for a town council seat. Additional sponsors supporting the Convention include Americans for Prosperity, The Heritage Foundation, and Virginia Campaign for Liberty, and many more.
Tickets and more information can be found here. We hope to see you there!
As you may know, Virginia is the only state that bans the use and sale of detectors. There is no evidence that the detector ban increases highway safety. Our nation’s fatality rates have fallen consistently for almost two decades. Virginia’s fatality rate has also fallen, but not any more dramatically than it has nationwide. Research has even shown that radar detector owners have a lower accident rate than motorists who do not own a detector.
Maintaining the ban is not in the best interest of Virginians or visitors to the state. I know and know of people that will not drive in Virginia due to this ban. Unjust enforcement practices are not unheard of, and radar detectors can keep safe motorists from being exploited by abusive speed traps. Likewise, the ban has a negative impact on Virginia’s business community. Electronic distributors lose business to neighboring states and Virginia misses out on valuable sales tax revenue.
Radar detector bans do not work. Research and experience show that radar detector bans do not result in lower accident rates, improved speed-limit compliance or reduce auto insurance expenditures.
• The Virginia radar detector ban is difficult and expensive to enforce. The Virginia ban diverts precious law enforcement resources from more important duties.
• Radar detectors are legal in the rest of the nation, in all 49 other states. In fact, the first state to test a radar detector ban, Connecticut, repealed the law – it ruled the law was ineffective and unfair. It is time for our Virginia to join the rest of the nation.
• It has never been shown that radar detectors cause accidents or even encourage motorists to drive faster than they would otherwise. The Yankelovich – Clancy – Shulman Radar Detector Study conducted in 1987, showed that radar detector users drove an average of 34% further between accidents (233,933 miles versus 174,554 miles) than non radar detector users. The study also showed that they have much higher seat belt use compliance. If drivers with radar detectors have fewer accidents, it follows that they have reduced insurance costs – it is counterproductive to ban radar detectors.
• In a similar study performed in Great Britain by MORI in 2001 the summary reports that “Users (of radar detectors) appear to travel 50% further between accidents than non-users. In this survey the users interviewed traveling on average 217,353 miles between accidents compared to 143,401 miles between accidents of those non-users randomly drawn from the general public.” The MORI study also reported “Three quarters agree, perhaps unsurprisingly, that since purchasing a radar detector they have become more conscious about keeping to the speed limit…” and “Three in five detector users claim to have become a safer driver since purchasing a detector.”
• Modern radar detectors play a significant role in preventing accidents and laying the technology foundation for the Safety Warning System® (SWS). Radar detectors with SWS alert motorists to oncoming emergency vehicles, potential road hazards, and unusual traffic conditions. There are more than 10 million radar detectors with SWS in use nationwide. The federal government has earmarked $2.1 million for further study of the SWS over a three-year period of time. The U.S. Department of Transportation is administering grants to state and local governments to purchase the SWS system and study its effectiveness (for example, in the form of SWS transmitters for school buses and emergency vehicles). The drivers of Virginia deserve the right to the important safety benefits that SWS delivers.
*** A small surcharge($5-$10) or tax(2%-3%) could be added to the price of the device to make-up for any possible loss of revenue from reduced number of speeding tickets and the loss of tickets written for radar detectors.***
Please sign this petition and help to repeal this ban and give drivers in Virginia the freedom to know if they are under surveillance and to use their property legally:
http://www.stoptheban.org
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/repeal-the-virginia-radar-detector-ban
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later