Though I have no problem with the license stops thats a real interesting location. That stoplight sucks even on the best of days so I can imagine how bad it screwed up traffic.

Posted by lewandow (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

LOL, thanks for the 'dragnet' find Erica. I was one of the people caught up in this "commuter" route -which is usually pretty much open road (at 25 m.p.h) and entirely uneventful.

But Wednesday, I sat in a full 25 minutes of stop-and-go traffic that backed up from the elementary school on Church Road all the way to Sterling Blvd. where the smart drivers just turned around and took an alternate route. On the Eastbound route, traffic was backed up to the overpass at Waxpool and Rt. 28.

I'm not sure I buy the whole "unlicensed driver" thing - as there were 18 officers that I counted while sitting there watching my gas tank drain. Six of them were checking cars. (Maybe they rotated in shifts so they didn't have to stand for hours?)

I'd love to know what it costs in man hours, gas, equipment, etc. for this vs. how many fines are collected or arrests made to justify the effort. Because the thing is, there is no shortage of crime news in Loudoun: http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/n...
But willfully causing more traffic jams at rush hour -- now that should be a crime.

Posted by insideoutblog (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 10:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

If you see one of these, do NOT try to bail out on a side road (think people). They usually set the checkpoint up where you have that option just to see if you will take it. A squad car is usually hidden down that side road just out of site.

Posted by Lakym97 (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 11:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Do you mean Cascades *Parkway*?

Posted by foobar2 (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 2:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The Sheriff's office sent out a full response with answers to the questions about what they netted from ye olde license sting:

Loudoun County, Virginia- The Loudoun Sheriff’s Office is continuing its
crackdown on unlicensed drivers in the county. On Wednesday the agency conducted
a driver’s license checkpoint on Church Road between Aspen Road and York Road in
Sterling. The location for the checkpoint was selected after deputies patrolling
these areas came across a number of unlicensed drivers during daily traffic
stops.

The checkpoint was held from 4 PM to 7 PM and saw 2105 vehicle passed through
with 27 summonses issued. Six drivers were caught driving without an operator’s
license and one person was charged with driving on a suspended license. Another
driver was charged with possession of marijuana. Other summonses issued included
six people charged with no operator’s license on their possession, one for no
county sticker, one for no insurance, one for violation of window tint, six for
expired registrations, and five for expired inspection.

The Loudoun Sheriff’s Office will hold several more drivers license checkpoints
throughout the summer. The agency conducted similar checkpoints last year with
the goal of removing unlicensed drivers from our roads. Nearly 40 motorists were
charged for driving without a license during the three checkpoints held last
year.

The Sheriff’s Community Policing Section, with assistance from the Traffic
Safety Unit, School Resource Officers, Field Operations, the K9 Unit and the
Sheriff’s Auxiliary Unit conducted the checkpoint.

Sent to General Releases, Media Only - Sheriff (E-mail accounts) through Alert
Loudoun

... powered by the Roam Secure Alert Network

Posted by tmarcoullier1 (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 2:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Why don't they go out at 2am? They'll get some unlicensed drivers AND some bonus DUI's! And not back up traffic forever and make people waste their gas. Or they could just hit a road that's already at a standstill (like Waxpool in the mornings) and just walk along the stopped cars...

By the way-I'm kidding.

Posted by qazwsxedcrfv (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 4 p.m. (Suggest removal)

foobar2- You're right. Thanks for catching that.
~erica

Posted by EricaGarman (Erica Garman) on July 18, 2008 at 4:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I think the police should not do anything during the day, as it might inconvenience us law-abiding citizens.

Posted by teden (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 4:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I am all for enforcement, but during rush hour?!? Come on, that boarders on harassment.

2105 vehicles delayed = 27 summons, and 2078 law abiding drives held up while trying to get home to their families. The inconvenience seems to out way the benefit.

Posted by maravetz (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 4:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Well done, a just over 1% rate. 2/3s of those were nearly a complete waste. Way to go for busting sometone with illegal tint! *eyeroll*

Posted by jasonc (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 6:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

If one of those drivers without a license hit and injured one of the 2078 law abiding drivers during rush hour that wouldn't be so good either. The timing was fine...they're getting everyday working people who think it' s OK to drive without a license. It's NOT OK. Good job LCSO! A 1% rate is fine too. They shouldn't have caught ANY drivers, but they did, which is really sad and somewhat frightening to think that there are that many unlicensed drivers on the street. The Sheriff's department is doing its job in this case and I wish they'd do it a lot more. Please set up one of these on E. Frederick Road at Thomas Jefferson Drive on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I've had relatives ask what the heck is going on with the way people drive in that area...people routinely turning into oncoming traffic without yielding right-of-way. I've always suspected there were a large number of unlicensed drivers in this area by the way people drive and this report really makes me think it's true.

Posted by rachelfriend (anonymous) on July 19, 2008 at 3:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)

i think UNannounced checkpoints for drunk, unlicensed or simply reckless drivers between 11pm and 2am on the weekends would yield far more results. announcing checkpoints is only smart if you also have cruisers set up at alternate routes.

sorry- off topic- a hold up like that during rush hour is pretty inconvenient and somewhat disrepectful of hard workeing commuter's time. again, plenty of other times they can choose and still catch law breakers without holding up 99% law abiding hard working folks.

Posted by tttrenee (anonymous) on July 19, 2008 at 9:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

More than likely, hard working commuters are already being inconvenienced...by drivers who do not have a license and who do not necessarily know the rules of the road. People never want to be inconvenienced, but if the Sheriff's department failed to perform these crackdowns and someone was injured or killed because of one of these drivers, residents would be up in arms about the Sheriff's department failing to reduce the number of unlicensed drivers on the road. The only disrespect I see in the situation is disrespect on the part of these drivers for other citizens on the road that they could seriously affect if they caused an accident. Being incovenienced is not disrespectful if the person (or department) is performing these functions for the good of the community. I'd rather be "inconvenienced and disrespected " in this way than inconvenienced and disrespected by an unlicensed (and probably uninsured) driver causing an accident that I'd have to then deal with both financially and emotionally.

Posted by Rachelfriend (anonymous) on July 20, 2008 at 6:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Could Loudoun police suck any more than they currently do? 2000+ commuters inconvenienced to nab six people?
SOMEbody has too much funding. Time to cut back money to the police as well!

Posted by Hoqenishy (anonymous) on July 20, 2008 at 11:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Maybe if they spent a little more time trying to solve the unsolved murders in the county (I think there are at least 5-Erica Smith, Patrick Hornbaker, the lady in Upperville, the couple in Leesburg) and a little less time w/ unlicensed drivers, we'd have a safer community. Oh, wait, they CAN solve some murders, mostly domestic related, but only with a confession, which tends to get thrown out in court 1/2 the time... If we only had a POLICE department instead of a Sheriffs Dept. Hired (with the potential to be fired) instead of elected...

Posted by qazwsxedcrfv (anonymous) on July 20, 2008 at 4:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Actually qazwsxedcrfv, if I remember correctly the Beland case was taken away from a police department because of how it was handled. The Post had an update on the status of the case a few years ago...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110301871.htm . Will a police department be better? It will cost more, that's a fact. The officers will unionize which will make it impossible to terminate anyone (See status of the DC police on that one). And the Town of Leesburg has 3 million reasons to be cautious with a police department. Anyone remember Chief Stiles who is retired somewhere living off his lawsuit settlement against the town??

Posted by truthseekerva (anonymous) on July 20, 2008 at 5:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Here is the corrected link regarding the above post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Posted by truthseekerva (anonymous) on July 20, 2008 at 5:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)

If the sheriff's dept really want to make a difference go patrol major intersections and look for people running red lights and other reckless drivers. These are more dangerous than unlicensed drivers going 5mph.

Posted by mazman128 (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 11:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Traffic isn't bad enough during rush hour, so they pull stunts like this to make it worse?

Heck of a job, LCSO, heck of a job!

Maybe they should set this up along Rte 28 Northbound at the Waxpool interchange disaster - that's an accident scene just about every evening, in which case LCSO would already be there.

Posted by nocando (anonymous) on July 21, 2008 at 3:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

There is no denying this checkpoint was painful. I know; I was also delayed returning from Wegmans as I journeyed eastbound on Church Road - and westbound looked horrendous.

However, bear in mind that this type of checkpoint is designed to remove unlicensed drivers from the road. Good citizens will disagree on its merit but consider this: we all shoulder the costs for the vehicular mayhem caused by unlicensed (and usually untrained and uninsured) drivers – just ask any person who's been victimized by a crash at their hands.

So what to do? If you can recognize it's a problem, when and where to have it? I offer that a busy street around "quittin time" in an area of demonstrated noncompliance is actually not too bad of an idea. However, if you don't think it's a problem, then you're unlikely to be swayed. If possible, check the statistics or with someone who's had to deal with being smashed by a hit-and-run driver, who was likely DUI, unlicensed, suspended, or revoked.

To me, the inconvenience was a small price to pay – better than doing nothing about the problem.

Posted by locoroaddog (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 3:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)