Police to target HOV violators Wednesday
Virginia State Police will be patrolling during Wednesday’s morning rush hour looking for drivers violating High Occupancy Vehicle restrictions on Interstates 95 and 395.
Officers will be on the look out for violators — single drivers who use the express lanes — from Dumfries to the Pentagon between 6 and 9 a.m.
Troopers will also patrol for drivers who wait on highway shoulders for the HOV restrictions to be lifted at 9 a.m.
In 2009, police in Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington counties and the City of Alexandria have issued 15,077 HOV violations. That number is up by more than 1,600 more over all last year, according to state police.
“This enforcement initiative is about compliance and safety, especially when it comes to vehicles parking in the shoulders of on-ramps,” stated Virginia State Police Capt. Tracy Russillo in a press release. “Such motorists are putting themselves at risk by illegally parking in such locations, but also other drivers trying to pass them or merge traffic.”
If convicted, HOV violators can pay between $125 and $1,000, according to police.
The lanes are restricted to cars and buses with three or more passengers in them, from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. until 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The lanes have been the center of controversy as Virginia transportation officials have been in talks with two private firms to privatize and convert the lanes into a toll road.
If converted, single drivers would be charged a variable toll based on how many cars were using the lanes at given time. Both companies have agreed to allow cars and buses with three or more to continue to use the lanes for free.
The lanes would also be extended from Dumfries to Massaponax, according to the plan.
Those plans hit a snag in late August when state transportation officials said Texas-based Fluor and Australia-based Transurban were having problems acquiring enough investor capital to start the project.
At the same time, Arlington County filed a lawsuit, which claims the federal government allowed the state a categorical exemption allowing the project to move forward without the proper environmental and public health impacts.
Fluor-Transurban is constructing 14 miles of HOT lanes on the Capital Beltway, from Springfield to Dulles Toll Road. Those lanes are not affected by the lawsuit.
Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.
Reader Reactions
Agree, that was awful. VSP sent the message loud and clear: complain about not seeing us - and we’ll make it worse for everybody. Thanks VSP. All anybody wanted was for you to monitor the exit and entrance ramps, not to stop the whole highway!
I use the HOV lanes every morning to commute from Woodbridge, VA to Crystal City. A normal commute (no accidents, police activity or stalled vehicles) take a max of 25 minutes. This morning’s commute took me over an hour. Traffic came to a COMPLETE stop at the Lorton exit. For over 15 miles (Lorton to Pentagon) traffic creeped and crawled. I understand VSP are doing their job by doing HOV enforcements but I have SERIOUS problems with their approach. As I traveled I-95 and I-395 I didn’t see one police officer on the shoulder, on overpasses, on ramps or even mixed in with traffic looking for violators. So what was the hold up and where were the police? Maybe next time VSP should consider doing enforcements on the HOV during the evening commute and not morning when everyone is trying to get to work on time.
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