Virginia
Why we can’t fall for arguments against speed cameras – Virginia Mercury
Decades-long experience with speed cameras shows they can reduce deaths and serious injuries by 20-25% and more. Arguments lodged against speed cameras are easily refuted or at least insubstantial when weighed against their life-saving benefits.
People are dying on our highways in dramatically increasing numbers. Speeding is one of the most significant causes of these deaths. Across the U.S., pedestrian deaths are up 77% over the last decade. Urban areas are hit the hardest: Although they contain just 15% of the nation’s roads, they account for 67% of pedestrian deaths. According to local records, Hampton Roads pedestrian deaths are up 38% over the last decade. In 2022, pedestrian deaths were up 50% over 2021 in Northern Virginia. They increased nearly 77% in Richmond, 2010 to 2021.
Speed kills. The likelihood of death grows rapidly with vehicle speed. A vehicle going 42 mph has a nearly fivefold higher probability of killing a pedestrian it hits than if it were going 25 mph. It’s quite common for vehicles to be traveling 42 mph in 25 mph urban/residential areas. I have captured and documented this in the past, having tracked and documented over four million vehicle traversals on residential streets in Charlottesville with an open source validated speed tracking system I developed. I have presented my findings in testimony to Virginia’s legislature three different times.
More Virginia communities add speed cameras at school crossing zones — and that’s a good thing
I have analyzed how traffic calming approaches – narrow lanes, bump outs, chicanes and all the rest,with the possible exception of speed bumps – don’t work. Comprehensive enforcement by police officers could work but is unrealistic. Virginia localities face persistent staffing shortages on police forces, and tight budgets. Police traffic stops have declined considerably across the U.S. and become more dangerous, putting both officers and drivers at risk.
Speed cameras can address these issues, and more. They allow police forces to spend more time on other issues and they reduce risk associated with traffic stops for all. They are race/gender/wealth agnostic. They are much less costly than the traffic calming efforts which don’t work anyway. They can make pedestrians and bicyclists feel much safer. Parents might actually let their kids walk to school again.
A handful of arguments come out whenever speed cameras are proposed. Let’s explore these.
“Speed cameras aren’t reliable.” Yes, they are, exceedingly so. The Washington Post has reported that speed camera tickets are the most reliable kind issued in D.C. Over 98% of speed camera tickets hold up in court. Of the small percentage of people who challenge their speed camera tickets, more than 80% lose their appeal, according to the Post. Speed cameras are routinely tested and calibrated to ensure accuracy.
“Speed cameras violate privacy.” Actually, they violate privacy less than an officer on a motorcycle with a radar gun who ultimately stops you if you’re speeding. If you are not speeding as you drive by a speed camera, no data about you is collected. If you are speeding, only your speed, license plate number and an image of your vehicle are collected. Enabling legislation can mandate a short retention period of that data. By contrast, think about driving by all those Ring doorbell cameras in your neighborhood, or about all the data manufacturers are collecting every time you drive a new car. (One car company makes you grant permission for them to collect and use for marketing purposes information including your religious affiliation, sex and gender.) And, there is no law that says anyone has a reasonable expectation of privacy related to the operation of their vehicle on public roads.
“Communities deploy speed cameras to make money.” Perhaps some do, but most are just trying to keep speeders from killing their citizens. And the legislature can place strings on how the money is spent if they so choose. Finally, if you’re not speeding, you’re not contributing to the community’s coffers, so just what is the complaint really?
“Due process suffers.” No, it doesn’t. Virginia’s current speed camera laws for work and school zones require that a human review every camera-based speeding violation for accuracy before a ticket is issued. And recipients of a ticket can appeal. Contrast this with the innocent owner burden in Virginia’s asset forfeiture laws!
“Speed cameras are unfair to the poor.” All fines weigh more heavily on the poor. Whether the fine is for a ticket issued by a speed camera or by an officer is immaterial. If the concern is that fines are regressive, allowances can be built into the fining structure. If the argument is that the poor will get more tickets per capita, that seems like an offensive assumption.
“I got a ticket and wasn’t driving.” Current Virginia speed camera law allows you to file an affidavit saying who was.
Speed cameras only cost you if you speed, rich or poor. In the balance, decades of experience across the globe shows the technology has a profound beneficial effect on vehicle-related deaths and serious injuries. These benefits far outweigh any of the arguments lodged against them, and justify support for proposed legislation – like House Bill 20 – that would expand speed camera usage in Virginia.
Virginia election officials are still counting ballots, but so far, Jason Miyares has about 120,000 more votes than his Republican ticket-mate Winsome Earle-Sears.
While Miyares, the Republican incumbent attorney general, still lost his race by nearly 6 points, it shows at least some voters split their tickets. Miyares’ opponent, Democrat Jay Jones, overcame the scandal that became the focal point of the race, after old text messages from Jones surfaced that suggested a former Republican House speaker should get “two bullets to the head” and the lawmaker’s children should die in his wife’s arms.
NBC News exit polls showed 40% of voters felt those texts were disqualifying — but in the end, it didn’t seem to matter.
That same data shows that most of that 40% voted for Miyares.
But still, experts said Wednesday they feel that we’re witnessing a new age in Virginia politics, in which most voters are willing to excuse otherwise inexcusable behavior — as long as the bad actor is on your side of the aisle.
Jones earned nearly 170,000 fewer votes than Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, which could suggest the text message scandal had some effect but not enough to cost him the race, which he still won handily by nearly 6 points.
“We will use tonight as a springboard to reject the politics of divisiveness and division and we will build a brighter future for every single Virginian,” Jones said on Election Night.
This race was the most expensive attorney general’s race in American history, and ad spending really took off once the text message scandal emerged.
Stephen Farnsworth of the University of Mary Washington feels that party allegiance is too strong, and given the current environment, he thinks just about any Democrat could have won a statewide race this year.
“The last decade has been marked by a significant decline in what is acceptable behavior. We now have a very low bar in terms of anything that may be disqualifying,” Farnsworth said.
Outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin suggested Wednesday the text message scandal isn’t going to disappear.
“The next administration is going to have to figure out how to deal with that, because they have law enforcement that they’re going to need to make sure feel good about doing the job,” Youngkin said.
But Jeremy Mayer, a political science professor at George Mason University, doesn’t believe this issue will matter much moving forward.
“With Donald Trump and his admission of sexual assault in the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, I think we learned we’re in a different world,” Mayer said. “A lot of Republicans in that moment said, ‘Oh, he’s going to lose!’ and the speaker of the House withdrew his support and Trump won. And that tells you something about polarization, and Jay Jones rode that same horse of polarization to victory last night.”
When asked if he thinks the electorate spoke loudly enough Tuesday night or if he thinks the incoming administration will need to address the text messages, Mayer responded: “Did Donald Trump have to deal with the ‘Access Hollywood’ video after he was elected? He was washed clean in the water of the election, and that’s what happened to Jay Jones.”
By 10 p.m. on election night, just three hours after polls closed, Democrats had flipped nearly one dozen seats from Republican incumbents.
Want more election coverage?
Cardinal covered races across Southwest and Southside. For more election stories, click here.
By 11:30 p.m., they had picked up two more.
The party picked up seats from the city of Roanoke to Petersburg to Spotsylvania County and Northern Virginia and others, after they knocked out incumbents in 13 districts.
House of Delegates District 41 was among those that flipped from red to blue. Democratic challenger Lily Franklin had a 2.46 percentage point lead over incumbent Republican Del. Chris Obenshain, of Montgomery County, by 10:45 p.m.
This year’s race for the 41st District was a rematch between Obenshain and Franklin after the latter lost by 183 votes in 2023 once provisional ballots were counted. That race was not called until nearly one week after Election Day.
“Lily Franklin ran a spirited campaign. She earned a lot of votes, and she has earned my respect,” Obenshain said in his concession statement. “Tonight was a setback not just for me, but also for the causes I have championed and the people I have sought to represent. Ultimately though, the voters have the final word and while this result is disappointing, I respect their decision tonight.”
In a statement released Tuesday evening, Franklin said, “I’m deeply honored by the trust the people of the 41st District have placed in me. Folks are ready for new leadership.”
“Virginians turned out in force to support candidates who embody the very best of who we are – champions of fairness and truth over the forces of bigotry and deceit,” state Sen. Lamont Bagby, chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said in a statement.
Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger will enter office with a trifecta, with the governor’s seat, the state Senate and House of Delegates all under the same party. She will be the first Democratic governor to do so in nearly 40 years, according to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
“Democrats, we’re back,” said House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott during a speech in Richmond on election night. “Tonight we shocked the world.”
The Portsmouth Democrat added that Virginia sent a message of love and unity over hate and division to the country.
“We just made history tonight. … Not only did we keep the majority in the House tonight, I think we’re at 57 seats. And we’re not done counting,” he said just before 10 p.m. on election night.
Here’s how the rest of Virginia’s Southwest and Southside House of Delegates races shook out
The political makeup of Southwest and Southside Virginia remained largely unchanged.
Most incumbents held onto their seats, and new Republican candidates for open seats in districts 46 and 49 won their elections: Mitchell Cornett won Del. Jed Arnold’s seat, and Madison Whittle won Del. Danny Marshall’s seat. Arnold, of Smyth County, did not seek reelection, citing his wife’s health concerns. Marshall, of Danville, declined to seek reelection to undergo lung transplant surgery. He is currently recovering from that surgery.
District 35 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Chris Runion, Rockingham County
District 36 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Ellen Campbell, Waynesboro
District 37 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Terry Austin, Botetourt County
District 38 winner: incumbent Democratic Del. Sam Rasoul, Roanoke
District 39 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Will Davis, Franklin County
District 40 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Joe McNamara, Roanoke County
District 41 winner: Democratic challenger Lily Franklin (seat flipped)
District 42 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Jason Ballard, Giles County
District 43 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Will Morefield, Tazewell County
District 44 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Israel O’Quinn, Washington County
District 45 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Terry Kilgore, Scott County
District 46 winner: Republican Mitchell D. Cornett
District 47 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Wren Williams, Patrick County
District 48 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Eric Phillips, Henry County
District 49 winner: Republican Madison Whittle
District 50 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Tommy Wright, Lunenburg County
District 51 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Eric Zehr, Campbell County
District 52 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Wendell Walker, Lynchburg
District 53 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Tim Griffin, Bedford County
District 56 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Tom Garrett, Louisa County
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Newsweek has rounded up what the latest polls are saying about the elections in New York, New Jersey and Virginia as Americans cast their votes.
Why It Matters
The 2025 races in the three states are drawing national attention as voters prepare to select leaders in three high-profile contests.
The results could set the tone for the 2026 midterms and provide insight into shifting political dynamics on the East Coast. The outcomes will also serve as a measure of support for the Democratic and Republican parties.
What To Know
New York City Mayor’s Race
Democrat Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is favored to win the mayoral contest against former Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
According to the latest Marist Poll (conducted October 24-28), Mamdani leads Cuomo by 16 points among likely voters, 48 percent to 32 percent, with Sliwa at 16 percent. The poll sampled 792 likely voters and has a margin of error of =/-4.2 percent.
A separate AtlasIntel poll places Mamdani’s lead at 4.5 points over Cuomo (43.9 percent to Cuomo’s 39.4 percent). Some 2,404 people were surveyed between October 31 and November 2. The poll has a margin of error of =/- 2 percentage points.
In a Fox News poll, Mamdani has a 16-point lead with 47 percent on Cuomo (31 percent). These results are based on 971 likely voters questioned between October 24 and October 28—there is a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
New Jersey Governor’s Race
The New Jersey gubernatorial race between Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli is one of the closest in recent history.
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