DATE: Thursday, September 25, 1997          TAG: 9709250381

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   48 lines

BRIDGE-TUNNEL FORBIDS PASSING VIOLATORS COULD BE HIT WITH A YEAR IN JAIL, $2,500 FINE.

The yellow paint is down and the white signs are up. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, all 19 miles, is now a no-passing zone.

``I've not seen the first violation,'' said Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Officer Roger Pike, who worked the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift Wednesday, the first full day of the passing prohibition. ``I've seen some antsy people looking to go around, but I haven't seen the first violator.''

The first violator will get a reckless driving ticket, Pike said. That's a Class 1 misdemeanor, which could mean a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. That is a substantially stronger penalty than what a motorist would ordinarily get when caught passing in a no-passing zone.

The passing ban is the bridge-tunnel's answer to a spate of crashes this year that killed six people and injured more than 25.

On Tuesday, road crews painted double yellow lines along the toll road that spans the Chesapeake Bay from Virginia Beach to the Eastern Shore. Other crews erected signs warning that the new policy will be strictly enforced.

Police said they will pay more attention to motorists who drive too slowly. Officers will either corral slow pokes off the strip at the islands or ticket them for holding up traffic.

Pike said the true test of motorists' patience won't come until Thanksgiving, when the number of cars using the span is expected to soar. The bridge-tunnel is generally busiest on summer weekends and holidays.

On Wednesday, a steady rain pelted the bridge-tunnel. Pike peered through the rain-streaked windshield of his police car looking for impatient drivers, but found none.

In his eight years of patrolling the roadway, he has seen horrible accidents, like the one Labor Day weekend that killed five people. A woman driving an overloaded and underpowered car tried to pass a slower-moving vehicle. The collision sent the car into the Bay, where divers found the bodies.

Next year, a wider, parallel bridge will open and the original crossing will be refurbished. A few years later, when both spans are open and new tunnels are added, deadly head-on crashes could be eliminated, officials hope. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Officer Roger Pike says, ``I've seen

some antsy people looking to go around, but I haven't seen the first

violator.''

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