I’m already being taken to task by several readers for backing stiffer penalties and stricter enforcement to help reduce highway crashes in this country — the most pointed comment so far being “What part of ‘the punitive system has not worked for 75+ years; what makes you think it will work now’ don’t you understand?”

Three points I’d like to reiterate here. The first is that the punitive portion of our traffic laws, at the local, state, and federal level, only get enforced on a haphazard basis at best today. Paris Hilton and Al Gore III share the dubious honor of being repeat traffic offenders now, yet will still retain their licenses and ability to drive. I don’t care about their personal life, mind you — but driving while intoxicated and/or at super high speeds on the highway (Al Gore III has been busted twice now for going over 100 mph on the highway) puts everyone’s life at risk on the road, not just theirs. We need to nail the repeat offenders and make the penalties stick — period — for enforcement to work.

The second is that stricter enforcement will only work if common sense reigns supreme on the part of law enforcement. Example: in 1998, Washington D.C. passed one of the first primary seat belt laws in the U.S. Then the police department got this bright idea: on the day the law goes into effect, let’s establish check points on several major highway bridges DURING RUSH HOUR, so we can write tickets, make some money, and snarl commuter traffic for HOURS. Inching along by carpool, as a 30 minute commute stretched into 1 and 1/2 hours, I watched several of my compatriots leave choice messages in the voice mail boxes of their Congressmen. That one day justifiably created loads of resentment against seat belt laws and nearly got them repealed. Not the best idea when you are trying to improve highway safety.

OK, point number three, and the one that sticks in a lot of people’s craw: higher traffic fines mean more money for local and state coffers. Nothing irritates people more than that thought. But let’s look at it another way: if people are going to speed and drive drunk or drugged, regardless of the law and fine structure, they should be the ones to pay for our road maintenance needs. And make sure ALL the money collected in fines goes into road maintenance funds, nowhere else. I mean, why tax everyone? Why not make the habitual offenders pay up? That’s my opinion here.

By now you’ve heard of the battle between NHTSA and New Jersey-based tire importer Foreign Tire Sales (FTS) over the recall of 450,000 Chinese-made car and light truck tires that lack critical ‘gum strips’ that help hold the tread onto the tire’s casing. There are, of course, eerie similarities between this case and the infamous Firestone tire debacle of 2000, where tread separation on Firestone tires mounted on Ford Explorers led to Congressional hearings, executive firrings at Ford and Firestone, the disintegration of the nearly 100-year old partnership between Ford and Firestone, and countless millions in damages and recalled products. What the outcome of the Chinese tire situation will be is anyone’s guess for now.

NHTSA is trying to get FTS to recall all of these defective Chinese tires, which the company at the moment won’t do as it claims the cost of the recall — between $60 million and $80 million — would force it into bankruptcy. FTS is instead suing its Chinese supplier, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, to pay for the recall, which is setting up a whole new level of squabbling.

The two companies began jointly designing the tires in 2001, under the brand names Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS and market them as replacement radial tires for pickup trucks, sport-utility vehicles and vans. The Washington Post in particular did a good write up on these defective tires, so I won’t go into all the nitty gritty details.

This is only the latest in a string of problems with Chinese goods, such toothpaste contaminated with antifreeze, pet food containing lethal amounts of fertilizer, shellfish rejected due to high levels of mercury, and children’s toys covered in lead paint

I’m not knocking the Chinese, by the way — these are just the facts. They are as hard working and as industrious a people that you’ll find anywhere on this Earth. But I think what really needs to be examined closely here is how our demand in the U.S. for cheaper goods is leading to a rash of defective products reaching the market. And let’s face it, the reason is that everyone’s pocketbook — from the family budget to the corporate bottom line — is getting ferociously squeezed these days.

Fuel prices are spiking up over $3 a gallon, food prices are up, many of us have home mortages that are tripling due to adjustable rates, health care is out of sight, and the list just goes on and on. So no wonder all of us — especially truckers — are looking for lower cost options in our lives. That includes tires for our cars and commercial vehicles.

Back to tires: China is the top exporter of tires to the U.S., according to the Rubber Manufacturer’s Association (RMA), shipping us just under 32 million tires last year. About 40% of all the tires bought new in the U.S. were imported in 2006 by the way, says the RMA, up from 21% just 10 years ago. That gives you an idea of just how attractive lower cost can be when budgetary belts start getting tightened.

Look, these kinds of issues are going to be with us for a very long time — manufacturing and trade are now truly global, whether or not the President gets to keep fast-track authority to make trade deals. It’s a reality of the modern world.

But that doesn’t mean we should get taken completely by surprise here: a seriously cheap tire, like anything else, should be an invitation for much closer scrutiny. And this time it’s a pure product issue. In the Firestone-Ford Explorer situation seven years ago, inflation levels were part of the issue, with tires being run at lower pressures than recommended to help keep the vehicle stable. Nothing like that seems to going on here with these tires, so far — it’s purely a physical defect that’s causing them to fail. That’s why it behooves us to keep an even closer eye on the products we buy from now on.

Virginia, my home state, is taking a big step this July in terms of levying bigger fines to make the roads safer. Some may call these new fines draconian or just another way to pick the taxpayer’s pocket for more road maintenance funds, but I am going to cheer this effort wholeheartedly (and make damn sure I drive the speed limit so I don’t have to fork over any cash!)

The USA Today new newspaper did a superb wrap up on Viginia’s new civil charges (which ONLY apply to in-state residents, by the way) so I will repeat the guts of that story here. Overall, new penalties will now range from $750 to $3,000 and be added to existing fines and court costs.

For example, the civil penalty for going 20 mph over the speed limit will be $1,050, plus $61 in court costs and a fine that is typically about $200. A first-time drunken driver will face a $2,250 civil penalty, plus fines and court costs that typically run about $500 or more. Driving without a license? That’s a mandatory $900 civil penalty, in addition to the ordinary $100 for a fine and court costs.

Virginia’s new traffic penalties are expected to raise $65 million a year and are part of an effort to improve the state’s roads without raising taxes, state officials say, and again, they only apply to Virginia residents, not out-of-state drivers. Virginians must pay in three installments over 26 months or lose their licenses.

I love the following quote from Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, in the paper’s article: “These penalties are harsh, but normal fines haven’t gotten people to drive sanely. Maybe this will,” adding that these new fines should help reduce the nearly 1,000 traffic deaths the state records annually.

Here’s another thing all the hand wringing overlooks — you do NOT pay a DIME if you do the following: DON’T SPEED, DON’T DRIVE DRUNK, DON’T DRIVE WITHOUT YOUR LICENSE. Hey, it gets no simpler than that — and frankly, why should everyone pay more in taxes to fix the roads if we can ding the repeat offenders who put ALL of our lives at risk out there every day? I mean, take their money, their license and their car — not mine.

Driving the speed limit isn’t rocket science, people — and frankly, with Virginia’s highway speed limit of 65 mph, you don’t NEED to drive any faster! That’s plenty fast enough. So now let’s see if these new penalties make our highways a safer place. Go get um, Virginia!