If you live in Virginia, be careful speeding. After July 1st, there will be a set of fees for driving tickets given. Go 20 mph over the limit and over and above the usual penalty of about $200 there will be an additional fee of $1,050. All of a sudden it gets very expensive to go fast. This was just in Saturday’s Washington Post. The money will help pay for improving roads. And in the words of one person “Maybe less people will drive like maniacs.”
If anyone has ever driven in Interstate 95 south of DC, there is a lot of traffic and a lot of crazy drivers. I call them weavers. They are usually going 15-20 mph faster than everyone else, changing lanes, going through spaces barely a car length and causing everyone they cut in front of to brake. They have to slam on their brakes too as the sometimes weave themselves into a corner where there is no space for even them to change lanes.
These drivers are not only being dangerous drivers (and who knows how many of I-95’s accidents have a weaver as a primary cause?) but they are also wasteful of everyone else’s money. Braking on the freeway wastes gas and increases wear and tear on everyone’s car. I also wonder how much of the stop and go traffic they actually cause. If someone is on the freeway has to slam on their brakes, the person behind them does and on and on it goes. The distance between cars tightens up and thet makes some drivers uncomfortable so they slow down or put on their brakes. Soon everyone is braking and, eventually, no one is moving.
I have never been a weaver and I do not how they can even drive like that. I am impressed with their driving skills but I wonder how much time they actually save driving like that. Any one time they may save a few minutes, but it only takes one ticket to pay for all those minutes saved. especially with the new fines coming into play.
Drive easy, calm down, save some money and in the long run save everyone some time.
