The National Motorists Association, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Federal Tax ID Number 39-1951971) consisting of an alliance of motorists joined together to protect drivers’ rights in the courts, on the streets, and in our vehicles. NMA members number in the thousands, and are active in all 50 states as well as in several provinces of Canada. Its main offices are located at 1001 Arboretum Dr., Suite 120, Waunakee, WI 53597-2670.

The NMA, originally founded as the Citizens’ Coalition for Rational Traffic Laws, has empowered drivers since 1982. We fight for the driving freedoms of motorists. We promote traffic regulations and enforcement actions based on safety considerations, not to generate revenue for other programs.

Among the principles we advocate:

Traffic safety through sound engineering and real driver training

Lives are saved on the highway through proven engineering solutions such as setting speed limits at their safest levels, i.e., slightly above the natural prevailing speed of free-flowing traffic, and through driver education programs that emphasize early advanced driving-skill development both on-road and in controlled learning environments.

Traffic laws fairly written and reasonably enforced

Traffic laws and penalties should be based on sensible standards that differentiate between responsible behaviors and demonstrated unsafe actions. If a driver is acting in a reasonable and prudent manner with no one placed in harm’s way and no property put at risk, then no penalty should apply. Command-and-control tactics like speed traps and red-light cameras do not constitute reasonable enforcement. Revenue motives corrupt the process, a problem exacerbated by the hiring of private, for-profit contractors as proxies for local law enforcement.

Freedom from arbitrary traffic stops and unwarranted searches/seizures

Roadblocks are used to cast a wide net that targets hundreds of thousands of innocent motorists to catch relatively few offenders. Probable cause has become so loosely defined that it is subject to the whims of roadside “justice.” No motorist’s property should be taken without a finding of guilt in a fair criminal trial.

Freedom from invasive surveillance

Myriad surveillance schemes – among them the tracking of motorists and vehicles by GPS, indiscriminant license plate data collection and retention, and the use of the driver’s license as a national ID card – do irreparable harm to the privacy rights of motorists.

Full due process for motorists

A fair trial is a fundamental constitutional right that has been increasingly stripped away from motorists. Our system of justice is based on the principle that people are considered innocent until proven guilty, but drivers – and vehicle owners in cases involving automated enforcement – are frequently presumed to be at fault and then subjected to administrative hearings that rubber-stamp guilty verdicts. This denies them basic rights such as discovery, trial by jury, and often the ability to question their accuser.

Reasonable highway user fees for maintaining and improving highways, not for financing non-highway projects

Having road users pay for upkeep and expansion of roads and bridges is fair. Charging them twice – as taxpayers and as drivers through the use of tolls and various fees – is not, particularly when the highway infrastructure continues to crumble and funds purposed for road improvements are funneled to unrelated projects.

Motorists’ rights that keep pace with technological advances

Autonomous vehicles and interconnected cars are examples of rapidly evolving technologies that promise improved safety and comfort on the road, but will also spawn new challenges to the rights of drivers.

For a detailed history of the NMA’s first 30 years of advocacy and a look forward, click here.

 

The National Motorists Association does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, political orientation, or socioeconomic status in any of its activities. These include, but are not limited to, hiring or firing of staff or contractors, conditions of employment, appointment to or termination from its board of directors, selection of volunteers, choice of vendors, provision of services, or recruitment of members.