For years, residents have complained about hearing very loud cars and seeing drag racers on the Beltway in Alexandria — and the complaints only increased when the pandemic hit.
With less traffic on the thoroughfare as people stayed home, drag racers with modified exhaust systems ripped through Alexandria from the Wilson Bridge to Telegraph Road and beyond, often reaching speeds of more than 100 mph and keeping residents awake at night.
On Saturday around 11:15 p.m., an Alexandria Police Department supervisor on patrol in Old Town saw and heard several vehicles with loud exhaust systems accelerating and slowing on I-495, the police department announced Monday.
"Upon receiving an alert from Virginia State Police about vehicles racing in the area of I-495 and Telegraph Road, Sergeant Ryan Waple positioned himself to observe 3-4 vehicles traveling in a group, positioning themselves to race. The drivers of two vehicles, including a silver Mustang GT, then revved their engines and accelerated. Sergeant Waple followed with due regard for safety, as the vehicles reached speeds of 105MPH. At that point, he activated his emergency equipment and successfully stopped and apprehended the driver of the Mustang GT," according to the police department.
“This type of behavior is dangerous to anyone these drivers are sharing the road with and will not be tolerated,” said Chief Michael L. Brown. “We want to commend Sergeant Waple for his effort to stop this reckless behavior.”
Alexandria residents are hoping the arrest stops, or at least reduces, the volume of noise coming from the Beltway. Residents as far north as Del Ray and as far south as Groveton have complained about the noise from modified exhaust systems on the racing vehicles.
Part of the reason the racing has continued for so long is that the APD is restricted from pulling over cars in certain circumstances. APD cannot pull over a car simply for being too loud, and catching the racers in the act has been difficult.
Unfortunately, Monday night, at one resident in Huntington reported on Facebook that she was glad APD caught someone, but, "as I type this I just heard two cars racing towards the Bridge."
