ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: Roanoke's Rapids
PART THREE OF A SERIES
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
I-81 IS PACKED with drivers who seem to think anything goes. The police have trouble keeping up with the numerous offenders.
In the space of a few miles and the span of a few minutes around 5 o'clock on a recent Friday evening, Trooper M.G. Keen of the Virginia State Police saw and heard the following:
*A radio report of two tractor-trailers racing each other in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81 at milepost 137 near Salem.
*A young woman in a red sedan blasting down the far left lane of I-581 south in Roanoke - slowing dramatically when she pulled even and recognized his unmarked car.
*An older man in a maroon pickup truck pressing the woman from behind, causing her to move over so he could proceed at 71 mph, 16 over the prevailing limit.
*Two riders on bullet-shaped motorcycles streaking through rush-hour traffic on the northbound side as he drove south.
*A man in a white van on the north side gesturing angrily and shouting through the open window, when Keen pulled abreast, "That Maxima was weaving in and out like crazy."
*A young woman in a black Saturn from South Carolina zipping up on his left in the southbound lanes, then hitting her brakes and gingerly adopting a more acceptable pace.
*A man in a white Pontiac whipping past at 69 mph, 14 over the posted limit.
In response to these provocations, Keen did the following:
*Depended on bridge construction work on I-81 to slow the racing truckers, and his fellow trooper patrolling the highway to keep an eye out for the miscreants, while asking, "Why would anyone want to drive 75 to 80 mph in a big truck?"
*Kept an eye on the woman in the red sedan, whose need to speed seemed to have disappeared.
*Maneuvered into position to clock the man in the maroon pickup, managing just a brief measurement - too short to justify a summons - before the offender noticed the trooper and slowed down to take the Elm Avenue exit.
*Bemoaned his inability to go after the motorcycle racers because he was clocking the maroon pickup.
*Acknowledged the van driver's complaint about the driver weaving in the Maxima, who was proceeding safely down the ramp to Orange Avenue, and whose supposed offenses occurred out of the trooper's view.
*Kept an eye on the black Saturn from South Carolina, whose driver stayed under the 55-mph limit.
*Moved behind the speeding white Pontiac and motioned the driver over to the shoulder at the Elm Avenue exit, saying, "We're going to have a talk. He's passed me twice." He wrote the man a speeding ticket.
All in all, it was a routine evening for Keen and his sidekick, Magnum, the drug-sniffing Labrador retriever, in their unmarked Caprice. Traffic was heavy, violations were steady and the main thing that the offenders had going for them was the trooper's inability to be everywhere and see everything at once.
That's how it is on the nation's interstate highways, where many people think anything goes.
Take a spin on I-81 around Roanoke during the morning or afternoon rush times, a Friday or Sunday evening, or any time, really.
Like Keen, you'll see a lot of people oblivious to speed limits and safety - a motor home pulling away from you as you drive 70 mph on an uphill grade, a long line of vehicles heading south at an average speed of 80 mph in a 65-mph zone, a white van from New York emerging from the bridge work on I-81 near Salem and taking off at well over 80 mph, followed closely by a woman in a Honda and a college student in a vintage Oldsmobile convertible.
Watching drivers' behavior as she commutes from her home in Roanoke County to her job at Virginia Tech, Lin Scruggs said, has "reconfirmed my faith in the craziness of humanity."
Out on the road, car drivers criticize truckers and vice versa.
"You got dumb cars and dumb trucks," says Will Caldwell, a Texas trucker. "It goes both ways."
Keeping order is the business of Keen and his colleagues with the Virginia State Police. In this area, the job falls to the Salem Division, where the men serving under Capt. Charles Compton Jr. patrol 14 counties, including four traversed by I-81.
"We give the interstate a very high priority in our patrol coverage," Compton said. Troopers in unmarked cars, like Keen, have the best view and the best chance at detecting violations. When marked cars patrol, drivers become saints, though not always in time.
"We want people to see us out there," Compton said. "and it's very evident, from the troopers working out there, that there are plenty of enforcement opportunities, even in a marked car."
He puts at least one trooper, and often more, on each county's portion of the interstate at all times. On the Friday night described above, Keen was obligated to fill in and cover Craig County, too. But he wouldn't go there unless he was called.
The troopers stay busy. Between last Dec. 31 and Aug. 24, they generated 4,034 summonses and arrests for speeding in 65-mph zones on I-81 and I-581, 1,676 for reckless driving and 716 for seatbelt violations. About one-third of all tickets go to truckers, they say.
Complaints about other drivers, especially truckers, come in often over 911. "We go out there" and follow up the tips, said Trooper C.L. Mumpower, who works the roads in Montgomery County. But it's difficult to catch violators in the act, particularly in a marked car.
When there's an accident, dispatchers get swamped. Not all of the incidents are critical. They once received a call from a traveler who had broken a tooth; he wanted them to recommend a dentist.
"We have been trying to emphasize to the public that cellular 911 calls should be emergency only," Compton said.
Increasing traffic on I-81 has prompted the Salem Division to install "push bumpers" on its cruisers so troopers can help clear accident scenes quickly - as troopers in Northern Virginia have done for years.
It has moved the division to join county officials and others in developing an incident management plan that, among other things, helps them to re-route traffic following accidents without creating gridlock in communities along the interstate.
"Even with all the planning you do, it's about like disconnecting a fire hose and connecting a garden hose," Compton said. Things can't help but back up.
It has caused the Virginia Department of Transportation to include funds in construction projects so troopers can volunteer for the overtime duty of parking in work zones between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., deterring speeders with their presence and writing tickets for the undeterred.
Despite the use of low-watt radio updates, electronic signs, cones, flags and other markings, people still sail into work zones at speeds above the 55-mph limit. When traffic congeals, the danger escalates.
Driver inattention is a prime cause of I-81 wrecks.
In early August, a man in a pickup truck piled into a Ford Explorer at the resurfacing project in Botetourt County, knocking it into a lumber truck and seriously injuring its two occupants, said Roger Smith, VDOT inspector at the site. Traffic quickly backed up for five miles, then 10 when the rescue helicopter landed. The worst backup so far has been 18 miles, from a point south of Buchanan to the Dixie Caverns exit in Roanoke County.
Out on the interstate, the troopers also emphasize criminal enforcement.
"We know the criminal element is extremely mobile," Compton says.
At 5:35 on that Friday evening, as Keen tested to see if the windows on a customized compact pickup truck had been tinted too dark, a dispatcher asked all officers to be on the lookout for a stolen 1994 Ford Crown Victoria - a fully equipped Kentucky State Police car.
Keen laughed when he heard about it.
"There's certain things in life you just don't do," he said.
Wednesday: What the future holds.
LENGTH: Long : 146 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. Virginia State Police Trooper M.G.by CNBKeen gives a speeding ticket to a southbound motorist going 80 mph
in a 55 mph work zone of I-81 in Roanoke County on Sunday. 2.
Traffic rolls past fast while Adams Construction Co. repaves I-81 in
Botetourt County. color. Graphic: Chart. color.