Fairfax County and Virginia State Police gave out nearly 35,000 tickets and warnings to drivers during a five-week campaign aimed at making roads safer.
The initiative, called Road Shark, deploys officers to crash-prone roads or areas where higher speeds are either reported or observed.
Last year, the campaign resulted in 24,551 tickets and warnings given out over four weeks. This year, 34,687 tickets and warnings were issued over five weeks. Those weeks were spread out throughout the course of the year, and a fifth week was added in October to address pedestrian safety.
“It’s about correcting bad driving behavior, and that driving behavior is what puts the community at risk,” said Assistant Fairfax County Police Chief Bob Blakley.
Over half of the results from the five-week campaign, Blakley said, were warnings. Officers are able to use their discretion, and if they determine a warning will result in more careful driving, that could be sufficient, he said.
“We don’t ever want to be in a position to try to force police officers to write tickets or make arrests,” Blakley said. “We want to be out there to serve the community, to make an impact in the most meaningful way possible.”
Police continued to catch speeders along limited access roads, such as Route 28 and the Fairfax County Parkway, Blakley said. They also issued tickets and warnings for distracted driving and improper lane changes.
Crashes and drunken driving arrests are both down so far this year, Blakley said, adding that the targeted campaign has proved to be beneficial.
“We tell our officers the most important thing to us is that we engage in meaningful traffic enforcement that’s informed by data, that is addressing specific public safety needs,” Blakley said. “It’s not just ‘where can we go to write a bunch of tickets that really don’t make an impact in roadway safety?'”
In the final wave of the Road Shark campaign, officers gave out 7,000 tickets and warnings — over 800 of which were for speeding.
“We found that these campaigns are effective for us,” Blakley said. “It’s not about a magic number. It really is about ‘let’s take a moment, direct our officers’ attention into these areas, and then next week, the officers can redirect their attention in other areas.'”
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