Council Considers Residential Speeding Districts

Increasing fines for motorists who speed along certain roads in Vienna could help some of the town's traffic problems, but may also unintentionally increase car volume and speed elsewhere, Town Council members said at a work session this week.

"[It's possible that] you’re going to put the problem on another street," Mayor Jane Seeman said.

The Town of Vienna first considered speeding districts in 2008, but the issue went largely untouched until the Transportation Safety Commission recently asked the council and Vienna Police to consider implementing higher speeding fines along the traffic-ridden Courthouse Road, S.W.,

Currently, motorists who get a speeding ticket in Virginia pay $5 for every mph over the speed limit, plus a $62 administrative fee. With an enhanced penalty, speeders pay the $62 administrative fee, but $7 for every mph over the speed limit as well as an additional fine up to $250.

Most other Virginia jurisdictions with enhanced speeding penalties have that fine set at $200. For a driver going 40 mph in a 25 mph zone, an enhanced penalty would mean a $367 ticket instead of the standard $137, Deputy Police Chief Michael Miller said.

If Vienna were to implement a speeding district, it would have to develop a set of criteria for the roads included in the enhanced penalty area, create an ordinance and post signs alerting motorists to the penalties, Town Attorney Steve Briglia said.

Other jurisdictions in Virginia have implemented higher fines or speeding districts  with mixed success,  Miller said. In Charlottesville, officials created a speeding district with six streets, and while the initiative reduced volume, there was "no official data to see if it helped speed," Miller said.

Briglia said he preferred that model to the one used in Prince William County,which made him "uncomfortable" because it applied increased fines to entire neighborhoods instead of specific streets.

In Virginia Beach, speeding districts reduced the average speed on several roads by 3.1 miles per hour, but "that's not that big of a reduction of speed, in my opinion," Briglia said.

Miller said judges in those jurisdictions have tended to hold uphold the $200 fine, but reduce mile per hour or administrative charges to lessen the total ticket amount.

Some council members worried motorists would simply avoid the speeding districts, thereby moving the problem elsewhere.

Council Member Laurie Cole said in the case of Courthouse Road S.W., which many motorists use to travel from Nutley to Park Street, a speeding district could move the problem to surrounding roads -- like Kingsley, Marshall, Tapawingo and Moore -- that are smaller and even more residential.

Council Member Laurie DiRocco said she'd rather wait before the town implements any additional traffic measures.

"[Speeding districts] may not be needed," she said.

Miller said Police have already done preliminary speed and volume checks along the road, and will collect data after the project has been completed.

Council Member Howard Springsteen said he'd prefer increased police enforcement to "heaping on" additional fines.

Miller said the department has had success recently with LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) units, which allow police to pick up speeds of cars from further away, so "by the time the driver sees the police, it's too late," Miller said.

"The newer technology is more accurate," Briglia said. "My suggestion would be to phase out radar and go 100 percent LIDAR."

Miller said the department has five LIDAR units. All police cruisers have built-in radars, which can't be replaced with LIDAR, but the town could replace the two to three handheld radar units that rotate among officers at $3,500 to $4,00 a piece.

The council forwarded the issue to the Transportation Safety Commission for discussion, along with identification and analysis of roads that could benefit from a speeding district.