Drivers still don’t get it

By The Daily Progress

Published: August 1, 2008

The good news: Police are continuing to enforce the new speed limit on U.S. 29 north of the Rivanna Bridge.

The bad news: Too many people are still ignoring the limit — even when warned to slow down by big, flashing electronic signs. How else to explain the 88 tickets issued in a 10-hour stretch on July 28?

Police handed out a total of 107 tickets for alleged violations from the bridge to the Greene County line.

Recently we noted with satisfaction that motorists seemed to be driving cautiously, after the speed limit was reduced following a fatal accident in May. Traffic was observed moving uniformly at 45 mph during a drive along U.S. 29 earlier this month (“Slowing down speedsters,” The Daily Progress, July 17).

That was not what was observed on a similar trip on July 28. Instead, traffic sped along at 55 mph and faster. A panel truck was even seen running a red light at Ashwood Boulevard, where 16-year-old Sydney Aichs was killed when her car collided with a truck that, police say, ran a red light.

It will require consistent enforcement to convince drivers that the reduced speed limit must be obeyed.

Some of us may temporarily forget the new limit — even with flashing signs to remind us.

Others will try to flout the law, try to get away with speeding — or running a light. And as has been said many times, speeding makes it harder to stop for a changing light, or for a car stalled in the road, or any other emergency.

So, play it safe out there. For all our sakes. 

Trash to treasure

He who laughs last, laughs best.

That old saying comes to mind in relation to some recent news.

It seems that those old junker ships that make up the notorious Ghost Fleet anchored in the James River are now something akin to treasure ships.

Not too long ago, we could hardly give them away. Yet getting rid of them was crucial, as the oil and other chemical contaminants risked leaking from their rotting hulls.

Now, with the price of scrap metal climbing day by day, the old ships are a hot commodity.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration says two ships anchored at Fort Eustis have just been sold for $1.2 million and $1.4 million, breaking a record set only last March.

Virginia doesn’t get the money, more’s the pity. But at least there are two fewer ships to foul Virginia waters — and a rising chance that more ships will be sold.