Prince William traffic unit helps keep drivers safe on roads

Traffic is one the most common complaints from those who live around here. That means officers in the Prince William County Police Department Traffic Unit have job security.

The 21 police officers that make up the traffic enforcement unit are easy to spot on their blue motorcycles.

Many times you’ll see posted on the side of the road running speed checks using LiDAR, a device that uses lasers to scan a larger portion of a roadway full of cars coming and going, more so than standard radar speed detection.

The officers in this unit write hundreds of speeding tickets per month. It’s not because they’re avoiding fighing “real crime,” or that they’re trying to “fill a monthly quota” of written speed tickets, as the common misconceptions state. They’re out to keep drivers safe.

“It’s an uneasy feeling to get stopped by police,” said Master Police Officer Steve Bennett, who’s been with the Prince William County Police Department for 17 years.

Bennett sat in an unmarked police cruiser at the corner of Spriggs and Lindendale roads in Dale City. He used a LiDAR detector and scanned the field of oncoming and passing cars.

He picked his spot carefully. By the time drivers reach this spot, they should have been able to see the posted speed signs three times, said Bennett.

“We try to be as visible as possible. We don’t hide behind trees or behind signs,” he said.

Most cars traveled the posted 45 mph speed limit, or just a few mph over. A few cars traveled in packs but barely exceeded the speed limit.

A Prince William County school bus stopped in front of a daycare center, blocked traffic in the right lane while sitting with its yellow flashing lights on for about two minutes before putting on its red lights and discharging a child. Most drivers approaching the bus from behind saw yellow and correctly slowed down but passed the bus. Another approaching driver in the left lane saw yellow lights and incorrectly stopped, briefly halting traffic on Spriggs Road.

The bus and subsequent traffic obstruction wasn’t in the road long enough for Bennett to issue a warning. Bennett sees instances like these, and situations where drivers cut off other drivers by pulling out in front of them, and drivers texting behind the wheel all day long.

But just when he thought this stretch of Spriggs Road was safe, Bennett spotted a white Lexus traveling at 60 mph toward Saunders Middle School.

Bennet first spotted the speeder, and then used his LiDAR detector to confirm the infraction. He pulled into traffic and pursued the driver by putting on lights and siren. The driver pulled over into a right turn lane indicating he was coming to a complete stop, but then oddly pulled back out into the right travel lane and then came to a full stop.

Bennett got out of his car and approached the driver and asked him to pull into the school parking lot up ahead. The driver did.

“I don’t ask ‘do you know why I stopped you,” explained Bennett. “I feel like it’s trapping them into admitting something they did wrong.”

Now with the driver, Bennett showed the digital readout on the LiDAR detector that indicated he had been traveling 15 mph over the posted speed limit. Bennett then came back to the police car where he ran the driver’s license and registration with the help of a radio dispatcher.

Bennett wrote a ticket and presented it to the driver, and he was on his way. He would most likely repeat that process again before the day ends, he said.

Traffic on area roads is often congested, forcing commuters to spend hours traveling to and from work. When it’s moving, the LiDAR tool helps police officers scan the entire width of roads for speeders. It is especially helpful for officers patrolling the wider four and six lane roads in Prince William County.

The LiDAR system looks like a set of binoculars that an officer holds up and points toward traffic. A laser sends out 200 pulses per second across the roadway. Fifty pulses per second bounce back from moving vehicles, and those return pulses tell the LiDAR detector how fast the cars are traveling, said Bennett.

Police cars are also outfitted with traditional radar systems that can indicate the speed of vehicles traveling behind and in front of the officer. These tools, along with visual indicators, help police stop speeders.

When not doing speed enforcement, officers in the traffic unit assist patrol officers when responding to calls for help from county residents, and assist officers and fire and rescue crews called to the scene of traffic crashes.

One of those crashes involved one of their own when Officer Chris Yung on his police motorcycle was struck by a minivan and killed while responding to a call for help on New Years Eve 2012. Yung was the third Prince William officer to die in the line of duty since the department was founded in 1970.

Bennett urges drivers to leave the house earlier, to pad a little more “time and patience” into their commute.

“When you leave late, you get into the mindset of beating the clock, and you often say ‘now I’m late.’ I know because I’m the same way.” said Bennett. “But I’ve seen that if I leave earlier, and I know I’ve got an extra 10 minutes, I’m more apt to let someone merge in front of me so we can all get where we’re going.”