Police crackdown on HOV violators, again

Virginia State Police were out in force early Thursday reminding drivers of the rules of the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes.

During the second wave of an HOV crackdown targeting those who violate the rules of the lanes, which state drivers on weekdays must have at least two other people in their cars between 6 and 9 a.m., and again between 3:30 and 6 p.m., police issued 36 summonses -- including one to a driver who left the house without a driver's license.

"The No. 1 complaint state police receive from law-abiding citizens in Northern Virginia is about HOV violators on Interstates 395 and 95," said Virginia State Police Fairfax Division Commander Capt. Tracy Russillo. "In just three hours our troopers sent a clear and concise message: If you do not have the legal number of riders to use the HOV lanes, do not take a chance because you will be caught."

The first wave of enforcement, conducted on the morning of Oct. 21, netted 69 HOV violators, and one driver who was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Following the October enforcement, state police came under fire from those who spoke with the News & Messenger about delays that formed in the HOV lanes that morning.

A state police spokeswoman said the delays, which formed near Lorton, were caused by onlookers in the northbound HOV lanes eyeing a car crash in the southbound lanes of I-95. The slow traffic in the express lanes forced troopers to change their enforcement strategy of setting up road block-style checkpoints in the express lanes and instead use troopers roving the lanes to look for violators.

According to one driver who called the Lane Ranger on Thursday, troopers were again using the road block-style form of enforcement during the latest crackdown.

The enforcement comes as politicians and transportation officials are in the middle of talks about converting the HOV lanes to toll lanes from Dumfries to the Pentagon and adding a third lane inside the existing footprint of the lanes from Prince William Parkway to Eads Street in Arlington.

The project hit a snag at the end of summer, when the state announced the private developers of the project, Australia-based Transurban and Texas-based Fluor, were having trouble finding private investors to finance the project.

To boot, Arlington filed a law suit with the federal government alledging Virginia was allowed to proceed with developing the lanes without completing a environmental impact study, or a study on how roadway improvements that are slated as part of the project, coupled with any additional traffic it would bring, would affect Arlington's neighborhood streets.

County leaders there reached out to local jurisdictions at the time, hoping for support to block construction of the toll lanes.

Last month, Prince William County officials decided against joining the HOT lane suit after reading claims in the suit that stated HOT lanes would attract "primarily Caucasian residents" from Stafford and Spotsylvania.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.