NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. — Authorities will delay activating speed enforcement cameras on Interstate 64 in New Kent County until Aug. 12, even as officials report thousands of speeding violations during a recent grace period.
New Kent County Sheriff Lee Bailey said speeding has been rampant along the 10-mile construction zone between mile markers 205 and 215.
"In 18 hours of operations, we've had over 3,500 violations," Bailey said.
The cameras were originally scheduled to begin issuing citations on August 1, but equipment delays and a legal technicality have pushed the start date back.
Once operational, drivers caught traveling 11 mph over the posted 60 mph speed limit will receive a $100 fine for each violation captured by the cameras.
Bailey noted that one deputy monitoring traffic for just 20 minutes recorded dozens of violations.
"He was out for 20 minutes this morning and I think he had 72 violations," Bailey said.
The sheriff explained that a discrepancy between county and state regulations is partly responsible for the delay. Speed enforcement cameras are only authorized in school zones, not on the interstate, according to a New Kent County traffic ordinance. However, state code gives the sheriff's office authority to use them.
"That will take place at a public hearing on the 11th, and we anticipate at that point we will be live enforcement on August the 12th," Bailey said.
The construction zone has become particularly dangerous, with crashes causing significant traffic problems throughout the county.
"It can certainly immobilize the county," Bailey said. "With the barriers in the work zones now, there is no escape to the left. There are no crashes in the median anymore. They hit the jersey wall, they deflect back out into traffic and it's like bumper cars."
Some drivers have been caught traveling at extreme speeds through the construction area.
"I know that a trooper one morning stopped a driver going 106, and the speed limit in the construction zone is 60," Bailey said.
Until the cameras are activated, deputies and state police will continue using radar guns to enforce speed limits. Violators caught by officers could face a $500 fine.
"In a survey that was done prior to us taking on the photo enforcement, in a five-day period, Monday through Friday during the work zone hour, they captured over 38,000 violations," Bailey said. "So it just gives you some idea of how big the problem is. Our main goal is to slow people down and to make our highways safer for the motorists traveling the highways and the workers working the work zone."
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