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Does anyone know why Virginia has always been so notoriously draconian about speeding? Is it DC-adjacent policy wonks outsized faith in the effectiveness of top

Does anyone know why Virginia has always been so notoriously draconian about speeding? Is it DC-adjacent policy wonks outsized faith in the effectiveness of top-down prescriptions, lots of DC politicians flagrantly violating the law, culture clash between stuffy suburbanites and yokels (Virginia was the first place I ever saw a trans truck), or what?

_bin_ 2y ago
The yankees' roads are all really bad. Old, narrow, sharp turns, and often crowded. I hate driving up there. By comparison, Texas we have long open stretches and up to eight lanes each way, so obviously it's less of an issue. I'd actually assume it's due to proximity to DC, which would tend to massively increase the population of "but the data say"-type technocrats.
- bearcobra 2y ago
  Is it common to refer to Virginians as being Yankees? Growing up in New England I would have assumed they’d avoid the term by being in the Confederacy
  - garrettgrimsley 2y ago
    No, they're both south of the Mason-Dixon line and Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. Texas is considered less South, culturally, than Virginia.
  - alistairSH 2y ago
    No. Outside DC metro, VA is the south (or Appalachian, which can be similar, but is distinct). These days, it’s not really about the Confederacy, just culturally.
  - _bin_ 2y ago
    Yeah, I don't really consider virginia part of the south, culturally. Maybe it was different in the past but proximity to DC has rotted any of that away.
    - bearcobra 2y ago
      I can see parts of Virginia not feeling culturally like a lot of the rest of the south but I’m still intrigued by the use of yankee. Like is someone from Wyoming a yankee because they aren’t from the south or is it more cultural to you?
      - _bin_ 2y ago
        Nope, yankeedom as I see it is Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. There is another, semi-derisive, use in which it means any non-southerner. But that is less common and context-dependent.
        astura 2y ago
        [flagged]
  - bitwize 2y ago
    Per E.B. White: "To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast."
    - bearcobra 2y ago
      Growing up in Vermont, this was clearly written before Red Sox fandom took over
- vel0city 2y ago
  Texas has an above average rate of road deaths per capita. Virginia is below average. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_road_deaths https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_road_...
- mindslight 2y ago
  We're talking about interstates though. And from my New Englander perspective traffic mostly self regulates without draconian speed limit enforcement, it's the slow end of the distribution that is far more scattered and worse for road safety. For surface roads, I'll take our bespoke road layout over a grid any day. Although I do share the sentiment that driving in the Northeast Megalopolis is much more suffocating than the rest of the country. Coming back from a road trip and hitting New York State is like vacation is over, time to get home on the interstate.
  - _bin_ 2y ago
    I really like the grids for cities. Say what you want about traffic in Houston or Dallas but, though they move tons of people, driving their is way, way better than e.g. Boston. I don't object to bespoke layouts out in the country so much as that the "through roads" in the northeast are extremely un-fun to drive on if you have distance to cover. Probably bias from how I grew up, but when I have hundreds of miles to go, I like hopping on a nice, wide FM and opening the throttle.
    - mindslight 2y ago
      > the "through roads" in the northeast are extremely un-fun to drive on if you have distance to cover It's not the roads themselves, it's the sheer number of people. Also the definition of "through road" is much different. You can't just get on any random numbered route and once you're "out of town" you're good - because there is no "out of town". Traveling longer distances you focus on interstates plus a handful of controlled-access state/US routes. For example, don't get on (a non-interstate-part-of) US route 1 expecting a nice drive. They let the US route get built up with businesses and lights, with the expectation that trough traffic will be using I-95.
whalesalad 2y ago
Virginia is like this in many ways. It’s a police state.
stonogo 2y ago
It's a massive source of state and local revenue. They have laws on the books (improper driving) which exist solely to negotiate down to.
ryandrake 2y ago
Virginia also has the shameful distinction of being the only state in the USA to outlaw radar detectors (I think they are also outlawed in DC). Totally ridiculous and draconian. Anyone should be allowed to observe RF or lack of RF that gets broadcast to them.

_bin_ 2y ago

The yankees' roads are all really bad. Old, narrow, sharp turns, and often crowded. I hate driving up there. By comparison, Texas we have long open stretches and up to eight lanes each way, so obviously it's less of an issue. I'd actually assume it's due to proximity to DC, which would tend to massively increase the population of "but the data say"-type technocrats.

bearcobra 2y ago
Is it common to refer to Virginians as being Yankees? Growing up in New England I would have assumed they’d avoid the term by being in the Confederacy
- garrettgrimsley 2y ago
  No, they're both south of the Mason-Dixon line and Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. Texas is considered less South, culturally, than Virginia.
- alistairSH 2y ago
  No. Outside DC metro, VA is the south (or Appalachian, which can be similar, but is distinct). These days, it’s not really about the Confederacy, just culturally.
- _bin_ 2y ago
  Yeah, I don't really consider virginia part of the south, culturally. Maybe it was different in the past but proximity to DC has rotted any of that away.
  - bearcobra 2y ago
    I can see parts of Virginia not feeling culturally like a lot of the rest of the south but I’m still intrigued by the use of yankee. Like is someone from Wyoming a yankee because they aren’t from the south or is it more cultural to you?
    - _bin_ 2y ago
      Nope, yankeedom as I see it is Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. There is another, semi-derisive, use in which it means any non-southerner. But that is less common and context-dependent.
      - astura 2y ago
        [flagged]
- bitwize 2y ago
  Per E.B. White: "To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast."
  - bearcobra 2y ago
    Growing up in Vermont, this was clearly written before Red Sox fandom took over
vel0city 2y ago
Texas has an above average rate of road deaths per capita. Virginia is below average. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_road_deaths https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_road_...
mindslight 2y ago
We're talking about interstates though. And from my New Englander perspective traffic mostly self regulates without draconian speed limit enforcement, it's the slow end of the distribution that is far more scattered and worse for road safety. For surface roads, I'll take our bespoke road layout over a grid any day. Although I do share the sentiment that driving in the Northeast Megalopolis is much more suffocating than the rest of the country. Coming back from a road trip and hitting New York State is like vacation is over, time to get home on the interstate.
- _bin_ 2y ago
  I really like the grids for cities. Say what you want about traffic in Houston or Dallas but, though they move tons of people, driving their is way, way better than e.g. Boston. I don't object to bespoke layouts out in the country so much as that the "through roads" in the northeast are extremely un-fun to drive on if you have distance to cover. Probably bias from how I grew up, but when I have hundreds of miles to go, I like hopping on a nice, wide FM and opening the throttle.
  - mindslight 2y ago
    > the "through roads" in the northeast are extremely un-fun to drive on if you have distance to cover It's not the roads themselves, it's the sheer number of people. Also the definition of "through road" is much different. You can't just get on any random numbered route and once you're "out of town" you're good - because there is no "out of town". Traveling longer distances you focus on interstates plus a handful of controlled-access state/US routes. For example, don't get on (a non-interstate-part-of) US route 1 expecting a nice drive. They let the US route get built up with businesses and lights, with the expectation that trough traffic will be using I-95.

whalesalad 2y ago

Virginia is like this in many ways. It’s a police state.

stonogo 2y ago

It's a massive source of state and local revenue. They have laws on the books (improper driving) which exist solely to negotiate down to.

ryandrake 2y ago

Virginia also has the shameful distinction of being the only state in the USA to outlaw radar detectors (I think they are also outlawed in DC). Totally ridiculous and draconian. Anyone should be allowed to observe RF or lack of RF that gets broadcast to them.