That Eye in the Sky? It Sees You Speeding

"Everybody speeds," said Virginia State Trooper Michael S. Hackney, 26, who is specially trained in using the Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder detection system, which employs a time and distance computer to clock speeds. But the speeders Hackney and Clark are searching for are the ones who wait for no one and are stopped by nothing except flashing blue lights in their rearview mirrors.

"They'll whip in different lanes. They're not signaling, they're whipping through. They're the guys you're cursing at," said Clark, 49, a former Marine helicopter pilot.

Three years ago, Virginia increased penalties on stretches of road with higher-than-average accidents and injuries. In Northern Virginia, an 11-mile stretch of I-95 near Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge is designated as a highway safety corridor, where speeding fines are doubled.

Virginia's aggressive driving statute, approved in 2002, makes the offense punishable by up to six months in jail, a $1,000 fine and a mandatory anger-management course. Aggressive driving in Virginia is defined as being "a hazard to others with the intent to harass, intimidate, injure or obstruct another person."

Police said they tend to avoid using the statute, however, because it is much easier to prove reckless driving.

In Maryland, an aggressive driving conviction comes with a five-point driver's license penalty and the possibility of a $370 fine, on top of other consequences. Aggressive driving is defined as committing three offenses at the same time or during a continuous period of driving, such as speeding, improper passing or following too closely, said Maryland State Police 1st Sgt. Russell Newell.

Maryland used to conduct airborne enforcement, but the state's fleet of fixed-wing aircraft is now used exclusively for homeland security missions, and its helicopters do not have compatible technology.

On a recent Saturday, during an aerial mission over the I-95 Woodbridge highway safety corridor, aggressive drivers were not hard to find. Before Virginia State Police cars could be placed in position, an orange sedan was clocked going 84.9 mph and could be seen passing vehicles on the shoulder.

In a four-hour shift, the unit snagged almost two dozen drivers -- almost one every 10 minutes -- going faster than 80 mph, including four exceeding 90 mph, which could mean jail time. During one speeding stop, troopers found drugs in a vehicle, which led to additional charges.

Across Virginia, there are about 20 stretches of road used for aerial enforcement that have the white horizontal lines.

The most disadvantaged drivers in aerial enforcement are those with yellow, red, orange and pink vehicles, which stick out on a highway filled with silver sedans and black trucks.

From above, a yellow Nissan Xterra could be seen from miles away, weaving from lane to lane and traveling far faster than the vehicles around it, making it easy to spot and even easier to pull over. Other vehicles with distinguishing characteristics, such as Hummers, Chevrolet Avalanches, convertibles and even cars with sunroofs, can make detection from the sky easier. Meanwhile, a silver Honda Accord, sans sunroof, is virtually invisible.

Clark said that when he tells people what he does, they are surprised to learn that all those signs posted along the interstate are not just scare tactics.

"They are like, 'You guys really do that?' And I say, 'Yeah. We do.' "