Bacon's Rebellion

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Factoid of the Day: Speeding in Virginia

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Maniacs. Image credit: Washington Post

Virginia has the third highest rate of fatal crashes in which someone was driving faster than the speed limit or too fast for road conditions, according to personal injury law firm Heninger Garrison Davis in an analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data.

Virginia recorded 906 fatal crashes; speed figured as a factor in 240. The speeding rate of 26.5% is more than 50% higher than the national average. The press release did not specify the year these figures are based upon, but a web search reveals that the most recent NHTSA crash data comes from 2020. 

I blame out-of-state drivers on Interstate-95. — JAB

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89 responses to “Factoid of the Day: Speeding in Virginia”

  1. how_it_works Avatar
    how_it_works

    Do they break down where these fatal crashes happen?

    Exceeding the speed limit by 30MPH isn’t going to go nearly as wrong on I95 as it would on Pothole Rd.

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      If you’re up for some thrills give that a try on Stage Junction Road in Fluvanna County.

      Or so I’ve heard…

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      If you’re up for some thrills give that a try on Stage Junction Road in Fluvanna County.

      Or so I’ve heard…

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        It looks like a very nice, well maintained VDOT road (picture from August 2023). Pay no attention to the cracks in the pavement, those are just cosmetic:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/456197b7dfb18bb738e026f12e1b6f6b61f9640cb5af18802e416ddc4b18da0e.png

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          You should find a picture of the curvy parts.

          1. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            I looked at it a bit and it’s got some 35MPH curves, nothing extreme from what I saw.

          2. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            If you don’t think ’35 mph curves’ can become “extreme” when traversed at 75-85 mph then I bow to your superior driving ability.

          3. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Any turn can be interesting if you approach it quickly enough:)

          4. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            I promised the owner of the Corvette I mentioned in another comment that I would not upload the video to the internet and I keep my promises. But trust me, it is… …interesting.

          5. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Fiberglass is heavy so ‘ya gotta have a lot of horses to make one go vigorously. That’s what makes ‘Vettes fun.

          6. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            You do you, but driving at those speeds on a road like that is a good way to end up t-boning someone who pulled out of their driveway not expecting a vehicle to be going that speed.

          7. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            I always try to drive at or under 80% of my own capabilities and at or under 80% of the vehicle’s capabilities. It leaves room for error.

            Also, I am patient enough that I learn all I can about a particular road, over numerous trips, before incrementally increasing the speed I drive it until I reach one of the 80% marks.

            I will never say never, but this approach has worked well for me for over 40 years.

            And, of course, I’d be a liar if I told you I have always follow these rules – but these days I’m at a solid 95% compliance rate.

          8. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            This is one of the problems with putting more and more curb cuts on 1930 era secondary roads…

          9. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            I really love it when they put an entire neighborhood off one of those roads. Such great planning. Bonus points if that’s the ONLY access to that neighborhood.

          10. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            VDOT tries to get two and also tries to connect neighborhoods for more/better access but buyers and developers in turn don’t like it. Everyone wants to live on a dead-end road that preferably backs up to undeveloped govt land like a battlefield or park. We have a lot of individual lots that front on the secondary and each one has it’s own curb cut and it don’t matter if it is on a curve or hill… they are entitled to it by law (apparently). So you can easily T-bone someone even at a low speed if neither of you are watching enough.

          11. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            One simple way for VDOT to get them to connect these roads is to say that they won’t put them in the public system until they are connected. Let the people that live there pay for their dead-end road.

          12. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            They could. They don’t. The county sides with the developers and home owners… although
            it has had some success with commercial intra-parcel connects. But I think the law basically says that a property owner cannot be denied a connection , would be tantamount to denial of property rights as access is fundamental. Owning a parcel of land is worthless if you can’t access it!

          13. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            VDOT’s current policy is that for a new subdivision’s streets to be taken into the VDOT system, a second entrance to a state road must be provided at the 50th lot. For 49 lots or fewer, a single entrance is allowed. They also still require that ROW be dedicated for inter-parcel connections, but as Larry pointed out many localities bend to pressure from existing homeowners and the connecting roads never get built.

            And, of course, neither of these policies will fix the issue of older 200+ lot subdivisions served by a single entrance.

            I do not know how rigorously VDOT enforces their “2nd entrance at the 50th lot” policy statewide, but in the Richmond area they are pretty serious about it.

          14. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            In Spotsy… not so much. But these days, we’ve seen a ton of apartments being built and they usually do the appropriate infrastructure for traffic.

            Each type of development has a calculable trip generation, and that goes into an analysis that the locality and VDOT conduct to determine the scope and scale of infrastructure needed including where the access point or points might be.

            For instance a McDonalds will likely have a different trip generation profile than a subdivision or medical office complex.

            We’ve had several larger developments down here where they built new roads entirely and the money came from bonds that are paid back by a supplemental tax level for some number of years – called special tax districts.

          15. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            Thanks, but I am pretty aware of how traffic studies work. I’ve even prepared a couple during my career.

            I’m also quite familiar with special taxing districts.

          16. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            If you are knowledgeable, I’d sure listen to what you know. Seriously. So you’re actually experience in those fields!

        2. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          An interesting phenomenon. I just “drove” along Stage Junction Road for a couple of miles using Google Maps and I have to say the curves appear much less pronounced in Google than they do in the in-car video of me running down that road in a Corvette.

          1. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            I didn’t see any posted with an advisory speed less than 35MPH, but I only looked a couple miles at most.

  2. how_it_works Avatar
    how_it_works

    “I blame out-of-state drivers on Interstate-95.”

    Virginia has a reputation for strict speed enforcement.

    1. Kathleen Smith Avatar
      Kathleen Smith

      Seriously?

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        Among out-of-staters, yes.

      2. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        “Welcome to Virginia. Radar Detectors are Illegal… and completely unnecessary.”

        1. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          Well, to be fair, the HOT lanes in the middle have taken away a lot of the spots they used to run radar from.

          They also managed to convert 28 north of I66 to a limited access highway with any median breaks for emergency vehicle use (or to run radar).

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            I think they could set up radar on the overpasses (with a camera) and burn a lot of butts.

          2. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            I have never heard of that being done anywhere…which probably means there’s a good reason they don’t do it.

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            I think it is technically doeable though with existing EZ-pass gantries that can capture license plates as well as the EZ-pass transponder… would be easy to put a radar thing there.

            At any rate, I would support whatever technology works to put a hitch in the giddy up of speed scofflaws.

            I’d be in favor of self-driving cars that go the speed limit festooned with cameras to capture the speeders passing them!

            Really, if we don’t do something, it’s going to get worse and worse. These folks have no restraint other than to ding them big time.

          4. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            They could just time when a vehicle passes through two ez-pass gantries and then figure out if the vehicle is speeding.

            Would be another reason to avoid VA toll roads, aside from the cost.

          5. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            they don’t even need toll gantries.. they can just use existing fixed license plate readers. We need to deal with the scofflaws or they’ll get bolder and bolder and encourage others. I want to see
            them called to account for their really irresponsible behaviors that endanger others.

          6. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            They could just time when a vehicle passes through two ez-pass gantries…

            New Jersey was doing something like that in the 1970s. The toll booth computer system kept track of the time it took drivers to get from one booth to the next.

            The time of day was included on each receipt a driver got at each toll booth. If your drive time from one toll booth to the next was less than an established minimum time, you were waved over to the far right side of the highway to have a conversation with a New Jersey State Trooper.

            I still remember the trip to Grandma’s house when my father learned of this the hard way.

          7. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            That sounds like something I’d expect New Jersey to do.

          8. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            yeah, I’m no fan of that at all but I’d love to have a way to nail these aggressive drivers of which speed is just one aspect but getting them on the speed would be fine.

            The GA does not like the idea of cameras for speed and red-light running but they’re apparently okay with EZ-pass using cameras as well as license-plate readers on cop cars and fixed.

            We’re starting to see some support for HOT lanes in our region. A year or so back, it was near to a 100% hate fest! Now I see people defending it.

  3. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    A lot of those cars that go whizzing by me on I-95 have Virginia plates.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Stop parking on the shoulder.

    2. how_it_works Avatar
      how_it_works

      Years ago I was about 20 miles north of Richmond on I95 when I saw a Lincoln Navigator with Virginia tags going at least 100MPH in the far right lane, then cut over to the left lane and slow down to exactly the speed limit.

      I’ve never seen anything like that before or since.

      1. Matt Adams Avatar
        Matt Adams

        I’ve witnessed two cars weaving in and out of traffic on 95 chasing one another in a fit of road rage.

        1. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          I’ve seen that too. Just honking at these touched in the head people is enough to get them to go off.

          1. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            We were on our way back from the beach and this was crazy. Like honking and chasing the one car.

            I have no idea what goes through peoples minds.

            I had something similar in PA where a guy attempted to run me off the road or get me to pull over, because I had the audacity to pull out and do the speed limit.

            It’s almost like they are unaware they are committing felonies.

          2. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            We were on our way back from the beach and this was crazy. Like honking and chasing the one car.

            I have no idea what goes through peoples minds.

            I had something similar in PA where a guy attempted to run me off the road or get me to pull over, because I had the audacity to pull out and do the speed limit.

            It’s almost like they are unaware they are committing felonies.

      2. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        That’s called merging. I wish more people in Virginia could learn how to do that.

        In Virginia, “merging” is the art of pulling to the left while going 20MPH slower than vehicles on the left.

        1. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          This guy wasn’t merging, just driving like a crackhead. Going way above the prevailing speed of traffic in the right lane, then getting in the left lane and going below the prevailing speed of traffic is, at best, backwards.

        2. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          I once saw the same driver accelerate harder to beat a yellow light than they did to merge onto the highway.

      3. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        Radar detector at work?

        1. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          Maybe, but the cops on I95 hang out in the median so moving to the left after speeding like that makes no sense.

          1. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Gives them a better view to make sure they know you’re not going too fast:)

  4. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    They’re out of control in the Fredericksburg area but most of them are NOVA come-heres as well as the usual assortment of miscreants on I-95 …

    The NOVA folk have brought with them a whole new way of “driving” and I use that word generously. It’s the number 1
    reason I will NOT drive in NoVa itself unless under dire threat to do so.

    People are super frustrated with congestion and there is this huge divide between the folks who want to go the speed limit or 5-10 over and those who think that is not fast enough for them and will tailgate in the right lane on I-95 as well as two-lane secondary roads signed at 45 and 55-60 will still get the tailgaters.

    I’m all for stricter enforcement, as well as cameras at lights and speed cameras at other locations.

    And the true irony is if a road IS improved… potholes fixed, lanes widened, curves and hills softened… the net result will be even MORE speeding!

    1. how_it_works Avatar
      how_it_works

      Yes, Larry, that’s right. The awful drivers are ALL come-heres. Lord knows that any descendant of Pocahontas is the best driver in the world.

      Unexplained is why the drivers in other states aren’t nearly as bad as the ones in Virginia.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I KNEW I’d get a rise out of you!

        why do we have worse drivers in Va?

        I dunno but I’m betting NoVa drivers are a big part of that top number!

        It’s not the initial come-here’s.

        It’s their offspring! They have no roots so they don’t care at all if the guy or gal they are tormenting is someone’s grandparent or other local hometown relative.

        1. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          I drove nearly 1500 miles a couple of summers ago through 5 states and the stupidity on the roads didn’t start till I got on I70 east of Breezewood, and it involved a vehicle with a Virginia tag, who was tailgating me as I was passing a truck and then proceeded to pace me when I moved over to the right. (Poor lane discipline is a hallmark of the Virginia driver).

          The drivers in Manassas were pretty bad even back in 1988.

        2. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          “They have no roots so they don’t care at all if the guy or gal they are tormenting is someone’s grandparent or other local hometown relative.”

          Are you suggesting that it’d be OK for them to torment a come-here?

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Of course not! But when you’re diving in a place where you know your neighbors and some of your relatives are also on the road, you drive different.

            These folks drive like they don’t know or care who else is on the road – even out in the “country”.

            And they whine incessantly about the “growth”… ” Why, I came here in 1980 and it was a wonderful rural community with cows and barns and things and NOW it is RUINED” as they tailgate some hapless local.

          2. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            “But when you’re diving in a place where you know your neighbors and some of your relatives are also on the road, you drive different.”

            Oh yes, the folks who put up the “DRIVE LIKE YOUR KIDS LIVE HERE” signs who probably don’t practice what they preach when they’re commuting through someone else’s neighborhood because I95 is too congested and the tolls are too high?

            It doesn’t matter to me if I know someone who lives on that road. I’ll drive the same careful way regardless.

            The notion that someone would drive more carefully because someone they know lives there speaks volumes about how little they care about people they don’t know. Clannish and insular.

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            naw.. these “come-heres” have no values!

            They’re cretins.

          4. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            If I was to use the word “cretin” to describe someone, it’d be the two SSI-collecting deadbeats I’ve known, both of which were/are “from-heres”.

          5. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            some folks suck the govt teat… others like to abuse other drivers for sport… the former are sloths and clods.. the latter , true cretins….

          6. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            You might think otherwise if you’re one of the people they owe money to.

            I actually had a judgment against one of them for failure to pay rent.

            I’ll never be able to collect, however, as that person passed away…likely due to a drug OD, if I had to guess.

            Such wonderful people…are one reason why I’m not a landlord anymore.

          7. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            what do you call these little honda/subaru “rods” with loud mufflers and other silly paraphernalia?

          8. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            I call them stupid, like I do the pickup trucks and Harleys with loud mufflers.

            It probably WASN’T the “come heres” that got Manassas known as the “land of cars with no mufflers”.

          9. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Oh we do have our share of yahoos in their big-wheel pickups and growling mufflers but I have to say, it’s usually not them that are tailgating… they just like to show off their trucks. OTOH, these little weasels actually enjoy abusing other drivers… very overt sometimes. I’m seriously considering some fore and aft cameras to capture their antics and share with the cops.

          10. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            They won’t tailgate, they’ll just pass on a double yellow.

          11. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            well it was some fool in a little Ford this morning… passed 2 of us on a two-lane yellow line. Pulled up behind him at the next light and then the one after that… I’m thinking he was probably not employed in a professional field that requires good judgement and the like, I hope. That’s the thing with some of these folks. You’d think they’d not be like that in an employment situation even a minimum wage gig…. they’re forced to behave .. until they’re “free” in their car to do their thing.

          12. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            They may not be employed at all. There seems to be a lot of folks around who get by sponging off of relatives.

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      What is up with all of the stoned out drivers in Fredericksburg? It doesn’t matter if you are on 95, 17, 1, 3, or 2 the roads of full of Cheech and Chong drivers. The smell of reefer seems to be everywhere.

  5. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    In Virginia, “driving” is a quaint euphemism for “aiming”.

    1. how_it_works Avatar
      how_it_works

      Given the number of shot-up street signs around here, I’d say they do both.

  6. Scott McPhail Avatar
    Scott McPhail

    As some associated with the court system I can tell you you would be surprised how many are being pulled over for doing over 100mph. And speeds of 110mph or higher are not unknown.

    And purely anecdotally Maryland seems to greatly overrepresented in speeding cases.

  7. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    “ I blame out-of-state drivers on Interstate-95. — JAB”

    Me too! It’s all those Florida tags in the left lane doing 75MPH in the 55MPH zones impeding the flow of traffic…

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      New Yorkers and Keystoners drive to fast. And the Canadiens drive like nursing home escapees. Such is life on I-95.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        I look for any excuse to use Rte. 17 and 301. America would be Great Again if Waldorf had a bypass.

        1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          There was a time in Waldorf when you could hit the drive thru lane at the liquor store and have a cocktail. You had to finish before you pulled away.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Nowadays you’re golden. You’ve plenty of time before you CAN get into traffic.

        2. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          They’ve done pretty well on 301, two lanes through with separate right and left turn lanes, and some of the red lights synchronized. It’s come a long way from long ago when you could go to the Wigwam and watch Jerry Lee Lewis threaten to fight the crowd.

          But I’m getting old and lazy and the toll lanes on 95 are usually a good deal, faster than 301, often uncrowded and with demand pricing can be relatively inexpensive.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            They could be cheaper if they didn’t have 20 separate gates (I counted) saying “Don’t enter now” on the entrances. Gotta figure if he’s crashed through 5, he’s probably not going to stop at 6, or for that matter 19. How about 5 gates and a steel barricade that pops up outta the ground?

  8. Kathleen Smith Avatar
    Kathleen Smith

    I got pulled over for doing 55 on the interstate in heavy traffic on 95 in Chester. I was going to slow according to the Chesterfield deputy sheriff. I felt stupid. I was in the far right lane minding my own business. It was dark and I hate driving in the dark.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Wait… when you say “far right lane”, on which side of your car was the rumble strip?

      1. Kathleen Smith Avatar
        Kathleen Smith

        Nope. Just the slow lane.

  9. Teddy007 Avatar
    Teddy007

    There is also the vast number of commercial long haul trucks on I-81 and the cars speeding in the left lane or weaving around the trucks.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      I thought the big trucks were restricted to the right lanes and not allowed in the left.

      What I see even then is folks in cars in the left lane who will not speed up and get past the trucks and back to the right so we have these long “trains” of cars stacked up behind them.

      People do NOT drive to share the road to collaborate on using the road. Some actually drive to impede others while others will drive aggressively and without regard to others including the trucks they’ll cut off.

      Fewer folks who will actually increase their speed temporarily so they can get around the trucks then move back right to let others behind them come on around also.

      The one thing we can say about roads is that it does not matter what you do for a living. You could be a doctor or a corporate CEO or a guy just released from prison with a gun. All type, no “dual tier” system for the “elites”!

      😉

      1. Teddy007 Avatar
        Teddy007

        If they pull over to let speeders by, then they get trapped in the right hand lane with no sight lines and having to wait a long time to get back over to the left. The issue with crowded highway safety is not speed as much as the differences in speed.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Yep. so if you don’t want to get trapped, you need to pass and do it in a timely manner and
          not build a “train” behind you. I agree about the differences in speed for the most part but
          when you’re passing… and you got folks behind you, you need to add enough speed to
          get around and out of the way. Sitting in that left lane “tracking” the car to the right creates
          dangerous stuff behind you . IF you’re gonna pass, then do it and let others do it also.

  10. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Corollary:In Virginia, “adequate following distance” is the amount of space to prevent anyone from slipping in between.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      totally correct. Try to allow a safe following distance these days and some cretin will see it as opportunity even though it won’t get him where he is going any faster.. but he’s “up” one!

  11. StarboardLift Avatar
    StarboardLift

    When I moved to Tidewater, my discernment was that drivers are aggressive but not skilled/smart. Going fast is not a sign of prowess unless you have the accompanying tools.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      You do make a good distinction. Some drivers are aggressive/fast but skilled at it and do not endanger others. Other folks don’t have the skills or care and just slap run over whoever is in their way.

    2. Tom B Avatar
      Tom B

      85% of the drivers in VA have above average skills.

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