GATES- When Shauna Jefferson got a call from her best friend Tonee Sheffield Wednesday morning, she couldn’t believe her ears. Not bothering to pull over to the side of the road to answer the call, Shauna picked up her phone that had fallen to the floorboard, pressed send, and held the phone up to her ear, all while changing lanes without a signal going 45 in the left lane of 58 West. As horns blared in the background, she learned from Tonee that starting next month she wouldn’t be able to commute to her job in Virginia with her current North Carolina license.
“I was like, what you talkin bout? What you mean I can’t drive in Virginia no more?” asked Shauna, all the while with a Marlboro Red dangling from her lip. After ending her call with Tonee, Shauna then began texting her mom asking had she heard about the new law. As she did, she drove in the middle of the white lines impeding both lanes of traffic, and drove through the stoplight at Food Lion in Courtland.
The new law was passed unanimously by the Virginia Assembly recently, in an effort to make Virginia’s roads safer. “It has been no secret for years now that the greatest threat to Virginians’ safety on our roads is North Carolinian drivers,” said Governor McDonnell in a press conference Wednesday. “Effective March 1, 2012, anyone found driving in Virginia with a North Carolina license will be towed immediately back to North Carolina at North Carolina’s expense, and will be subject to a $500 fine for first offense, $2000 for any offense afterward.” The Governor continued, “The days of driving in the left lane going 15 MPH below the speed limit, while having your left turn signal still going, while talking on your cell phone, with 6 people in a 4 seater car, while one holds an infant that is not in a proper seat, and coming over into the right lane as we try to pass you, and then you giving us a dirty look followed by the middle finger… those days are long gone,” the Governor continued.
Political pundits cite this as the greatest achievement of McDonnell’s term, and believe it will propel him in his impending bid for the US Senate. “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever heard,” said Franklin resident Tom Wood. “There’s going to be so much freedom, and my God I can go the speed limit again, I wish we’d done this sooner!”
The new law will not leave North Carolina drivers completely out to dry, however. If Carolina drivers can pass a rigid driving course given through the state of Virginia, at the driver’s expense of course, they can gain a valid license to operate a vehicle in the Commonwealth of Virginia. These courses will be available across the state at different locations. For the Franklin/Southampton area, North Carolina residents can attend the course given at the Franklin Workforce Development Center, administered by State Trooper, Stanley Johnson. Don’t drive yourself to these courses, as transportation will be provided from the North Carolina state line to the course sites for Virginia residents’ protection. For more information call 1-800-SAFERVA.