Take action

Take action

The VDOT traffic study distributed at the

recent meeting of the Washington Town

Council highlights, and supplies hard evidence in support of, a problem with which town residents are only too familiar: speeding cars.

The report’s cover letter, in a purely statistical mode, notes that the “majority of drivers were traveling in a speed range between 25 mph and 34 mph.”

Yes, most drivers are staying within 10 mph of the speed limit according to the VDOT study, but the fact is that on Business 211-522, the Town of Washington’s “main drag,” 84 percent (1,930 out of 2,293) were exceeding the posted 25 mph limit. Of greater concern, and a much more serious threat to the town’s safety, is the number of vehicles traveling 45-54 mph (the study noted no cars exceeded 55 mph.). The number of drivers exceeding the posted limit by at least 20 mph, which qualifies as reckless driving under Virginia law, was 90, or 3.9 percent of all traffic recorded on a Wednesday when many shops are closed and local B&Bs are not full.

Some might see the figure of 3.9 percent as low and argue that most cars were going within 10 mph of the speed limit. Would these same observers say that crime is generally not a problem because most people don’t commit crimes? The reason we have law enforcement is not because most people commit crimes, but because some people do.

An automobile is a large and powerful machine capable of causing serious injury or death to a pedestrian, even at the posted speed of 25 mph. Are we going to play a traffic lottery with the safety of the town’s citizens at stake? Are we going to figure that even though about 30,000 vehicles per year could be travelling down our streets at speeds defined by law as reckless, that probably nothing will happen?

We cannot wait for the first victim before we address this issue. Action must be taken now, before there is a tragedy. We call on the Sheriff’s Office to take enforcement action as well as the Virginia State Police.