Reckless Driving - Consequences Seem Low

Recently we have had two sentences handed down involving reckless driving both of which resulted in the death of the driver of the other car that occurred near the Broadlands community.

1) https://www.loudountimes.com/news/c...cle_fbfb4574-1b7f-11ee-befd-93f01c8be467.html

2) https://www.loudountimes.com/news/d...cle_abea2500-2ccd-11ee-8f7e-375ce476ba5f.html

The first resulted in a 6 months in jail while the second resulted in only 1 year in jail. Do these sentences seem low considering that both drivers were killed and in the case of the second accident her 10-week old baby she was carrying? To me these seem like a slap on the wrist to the drivers who took an innocent person's life by their reckless actions.

Unfortunately these events happened in 2019 and in 2022 and since then I do not see any change in the speed on both Claiborne and Belmont Ridge where these two tragedies occurred. There is limited enforcement since "they don't have enough deputies" and are "busy with other crimes", but even then the penalties are a slap on the wrist compared to the deadly consequences.

Just frustrated.

 

It is bogus. Every road around here is like a dragstrip. Not a Deputy in sight. But yes hearing "other crimes" are consuming resources.

 

Consider who you vote for this fall for Loudoun County Attorney.

 

I totally agree-

I’ve NOT, ever since I moved here in 2009, ever seen deputies patrol the roads around here to help keep people from driving recklessly around here.

I’ve called LCSO to complain about speeders, people that drive with no headlights when raining or in the dark, people that run red lights routinely, people who run stop signs, people that don’t wait until people fully exit intersections, people who drive at a very high MPH (I’ve seen sports cars such as Porsches, corvettes, Ferraris, Lambos and such going approximately 85-100 mph (you can time them from point to point to get an approx speed (friend of mine who is a state police officer demonstrated to me how it works if he didn’t have a radar unit on him). It’s getting scary on Belmont Ridge, Loudoun County Road and even on Route 28 among others. When I called to complain, they laugh and say they are short staffed and have other more important things to worry about. Seems Chapman doesn’t give a crap about that since he wants people to vote for him so he directs deputies not to enforce traffic laws so he won’t lose votes.

I’ve been to Loudoun Court House and oh my god—- soooooo many deputies are located there- far more than I have ever seen at FFX County Courthouse. I wonder why the need to have excessive number of deputies at courthouse in Leesburg?!?! Seems like a huge waste of resources when 3/4 of them could be patrolling Eastern Loudoun to get folks to comply with traffic laws.

I agree that we aren’t getting our worth from tax dollars we are spending on LCSO these days. What the hell is Chapman doing with our tax $$$$??? I don’t think that guy knows how to run a sheriff’ Department- so unresourceful and many deputies are just abiding their time at the Courthouse until they retire with fat pensions.

Ridiculous!

 

It's time to invest in a police department despite the projected costs.

 

How Buta Biberaj is even allowed to run for attorney general is beyond me. Of course 70% of the population will likely rubber stamp the reelection. I really feel for the victims here. There is no real justice anymore.

 

Yep, the one vote that I get I know what I want to do with it, but I also know this is a one-party town. I'm aware Supervisor Glass is coming to visit with us in a week or so. I'm debating whether I spend any time attending because I know that the concerns I have will likely be met with the partisan response, which is pretty much NOT about enforcement and stopping people.

This has pro's/con's and many feel like putting the Sheriff's Office underneath the administrative umbrella of elected officials (this is a one-party town) would not have much of an intended effect, in fact, it would further curtail law enforcement actions.

Maybe Sheriff Chapman is walking a fine-line and not wanting to exhaust, drive-away, and burn-out the depleted core of Deputies he says he has and instead to keep an active and engaged team of Officers, he has them focused on "other policing activities" so as to not provide rigid enforcement of traffic/safety and risk their livelihoods with stops that could turn incendiary/dangerous as many have.

I don't know how many out there even want to do this type of work given the optics of policing as represented by the media but the problem will ease when the one-party outlook is more accepting of traffic stops and enforcement and more people want to pursue law enforcement for a career, which right now seems very dangerous.

Sounds like we are at an impasse to me and all I can do is drive slower, be more aware of risks around me, and tell my children and loved ones to be extra cautious out there.

 

Capricorn-
I was referring to the Attorney General, not Mike Chapman.
Chapman can make all the arrests he wants, but it is up to the Attorney General to prosecute.

 

Totally understood that but he and he aalone can order his deputies to get out there in their cars and patrol to make their presence seem so people can slow down or change their behavior.

By getting more tickets out there, people may not want to have to take time off work to go to traffic court. If you get a ticket, you still have to show up for traffic court but prosecutor may not prosecute it or throw it out- Just because you get a ticket by police officer doesn’t mean you don’t have to show up. So if deputies start ticketing people, perhaps it could change people’s behavior because people don’t want to go to traffic court as it wastes their time.

County Attorney is another issue altogether though!

 

I actually spoke at length with a Deputy about this very issue. The Deputies are concerned that writing tickets could one day be deemed worthless because of overwhelming amounts of non-convictions. Sets a precedents for the court system to overturn a law or declare a law non enforceable.

Our one-party system here has installed a Prosecutor who puts many of the Deputies actions at risk. I suspect this is the root cause of the problem.

 

What's the point of arresting people or writing tickets if they get let out and voided? The police seem to becoming a reactionary force instead of proactive. Apparently a good number of people like this in the area and it's certainly what they voted for.

These days I do get some joy watching the speeders line up behind me as I go 25 through the neighborhood.

 

Interesting statistics in the first link below:

"Citing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics in his sentencing memorandum to Taylor, Dickey noted while traffic-related deaths are down 0.2% nationally since 2021, they’re up 9.6% in the same period in Virginia. He said nearly half of the 1,005 traffic deaths in Virginia in 2022 involved speeding. Dickey also noted the Virginia Highway Safety Office’s 2022 crash facts chart said the 653 speed-related crashes in Loudoun were “far above” most jurisdictions in Virginia."

Do not forget about the Washington Commanders player who also received a slap on the wrist for going airborne in his Nissan GT-R and killing his passenger. Another player on the team missed practice yesterday to appeal his reckless driving conviction for driving his McLaren 114 mph in a 45 mph zone on Loudoun County Parkway.

 

Doesn’t surprise me that these NFL players speed recklessly knowing very well that they buy expensive cars showing off how invisible they are at such high speeds.
Only just when they hit and kill some or only then they lose their multi-million dollar contracts and be sued for millions by victim’s families because these guys didn’t have a brain to follow the laws.

I used to date a girl whose brother was a Redskins player in the late 90s - he told me some of the players that make enormous amounts of money only care about themselves throwing tons of $$ at expensive cars to race them up and down on straightaway roads because they know very well that it’s rare for them to be caught by cops. They enjoy the speed and prestige of the cars- he said it’s sad that they have to get their jollies this way and rues the day they hit someone- he’s now with another professional team on their coaching team. Nice and respectable guy with a solid large family - relatives live in Brambleton still-

I wish they would permanently take away the license of people who speed recklessly like that- but oh no, that will never happen because they have—gasp— a job that pays them a salary that can afford them a high powered attorney with connections to help them keep their license.