The Arlington County Police Department is partnering with Virginia State Police and other local law enforcement agencies to conduct a “Capitol Region HOV Awareness Day.” Officers will be conducting “saturation patrols” during the morning and evening rush hours in an effort to boost enforcement of High Occupancy Vehicle laws on I-395, I-66 and other local highways.
Two HOV Awareness Day operations last year resulted in police issuing more than 2,300 summonses and arresting two fugitives.
Police say 28-year-old Juanita Maxwell ignored orders to stay in her vehicle, then refused to comply with other police commands. According to the police report, she called 911 and then fought officers as they attempted to place her under arrest.
Maxwell was charged with resisting arrest and false summoning of law enforcement. She also received summons for an HOV violation and a window tint violation. She was released on a $1,250 bond.
Four people have been injured, two seriously, in a wreck in the northbound HOV lanes of the 14th Street Bridge.
Nearly a dozen police, fire and medic units from Arlington and the District have responded to the accident scene. Northbound HOV traffic on I-395 is backed up to Washington Boulevard.
“Is there any point at which that will formally and permanently be canceled?” a caller asked the governor, adding that single-occupant hybrids “clog up” the HOV lanes during rush hour.
McDonnell, who signed a one-year extension of the law in March, noted that the law was “put in place in previous administrations… to create an incentive for using fuel-efficient cars.”
The accident happened in the southbound HOV lanes of I-395. Police on the scene reported that the man had taken out at least one of the gates used to prevent traffic from going the wrong way on the combined HOV lanes.
The extent of the man’s injuries are unknown. A repair crew from VDOT has been dispatched to repair the gate.
Arlington Joins Region-Wide HOV Enforcement Effort Today — Today Arlington police will be joining Virginia State Police and other local law enforcement agencies in an effort to crack down on HOV violators. During the morning and evening rush hours, police will step up HOV patrols on I-66, I-395 and other local highways. More from WaPo’s Dr. Gridlock.
Injured Vets Stop at Iwo Jima Memorial on Cross-County Bike Ride — A group of 18 bicyclists, many of them wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stopped in Arlington last night on their way from San Francisco to Virginia Beach. The vets stopped at the Marine Corps Memorial to see the retiring of the colors ceremony. More from the Associated Press.
The Arlington County Police Department is coordinating with Virginia State Police, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police and other regional law enforcement agencies for the first “Capitol Region HOV Awareness Day” on May 5.
Police will conduct “saturation patrols” targeting HOV violators on local interstates during the morning and evening rush hours.
