Shaun Kenney | Politics and Religion in Virginia's Public Square


Sunday, November 20, 2005 HOV Enforcement on Election Night?! I smell a rat. Read on. Spotsylvania and Stafford Counties are GOP goldmines. Even with the statewide returns, Kilgore still won with 55% or better in this region. So when I read that the Virginia State Police managed to enforce, not just it's HOV restrictions, but attempts a novel approach to enforcement that bottles up cars on HOV on Election Day of all days - where thousands of Republican voters are trying to get home from work - somehow strikes me as strange: THE HOV-exit enforcement fiasco that occurred on election night was a classic case of poor planning. Virginia State Police were targeting HOV violators at the point where the High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes rejoin the main line of Interstate 95 near Dumfries. The result was a major backup on a night when many commuters were hurrying home in time to vote. Forget for a moment that our state troopers were "doing their job" on Election Day. Why, of all days, Election Day? On voters heading home to regions that vote Republican in overwhelming numbers? I can already hear the retort that Virginia's finest were simply doing their job. Perhaps. However, if it were Democratic voters being "disenfranchised" by a Republican governor instructing Virginia State Troopers in dimly lit and smoke-filled rooms to steal the election... You get the idea. This method of exit enforcement significantly curtails the intended efficiencies of the HOV lanes--speed, reduced gas use and reduced emissions. When you wait to nab them at the exit, the violators have already used the HOV lanes and increased the congestion. And it was done in such a way as to increase congestion - not decrease it. I'd like answers. Why on Election Day and not Wednesday? Or six months earlier? posted by Shaun Kenney \| 11/20/2005 10:55:00 AM \| 1 comments 1 Comments: At 1:08 PM, Dvt guy said... It's pretty common to police these things. Sometimes I barely have time to blow up my two dummy dolls before I get to the checkpoint. Post a Comment Home
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