High schoolers change Virginia law to make rural roads safer

Overgrown vegetation, deep potholes, and sharp curves with 55mph speed limits form a deadly combination along the rural roads around Fredericksburg. After a crash killed a student at Colonial Forge High School last year, a coterie of classmates teamed up to improve the many backroads in Stafford County and took their cause all the way to the General Assembly this past session.

Beginning this July, the resulting “Helen’s Law” bills from Delegate Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg) and Senator Richard Stuart (R-Stafford), will require private property owners to trim back or remove vegetation within five feet of the pavement if it blocks the view of drivers. Alternately, localities would have the option to hire a private contractor to chop down any trees, brush, or overgrowth that “might dangerously obstruct the line of sight of a driver, be involved in a collision with a vehicle, or interfere with the safe operation of a vehicle.”

Dangerous driving

No one can pinpoint the exact cause of the crash that killed 17 year old Helen Wang last year, but those who visited the scene of the collision along Kellogg Mill Road believe large limbs, overgrown grasses, and unruly vegetation at the intersection severely limited the girl’s sight, causing her to unknowingly pull out in front of the truck that killed her.

“We didn’t know what to do or how to deal with it,” said Rebecca Chung, a classmate. “Her death affected an entire school, an entire county. Everyone wore yellow — Wang’s favorite color — the whole week after she passed.”

After one of Chung’s teachers advised her that Wang wouldn’t want her friends and classmates to be sad forever, Chung pulled together a band of like-minded students to honor Wang’s passing by fighting for change. Decked out in yellow with Wang’s favorite flower — sunflowers — pinned to their shirts, Changing Stafford’s Roads made its debut demands at their county board of supervisors meeting.

Local leaders told them clearing dangerous debris from the edge of rural roads was the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) responsibility, so the group decided to take their fight to the General Assembly. After learning the basics of bill writing at a civics-minded summer camp, Changing Stafford’s Roads member Dave Sousa drafted legislation to permit localities to use their own agents or private contractors to clear roadside vegetation instead of having to wait on VDOT to respond.

“VDOT is in charge of managing roads across the whole state,” Sousa said in an interview. “There were multiple reports that vegetation near the site of the accident needed to be cleared before Helen was killed. Our bill allows localities to step in and take care of it.”

Although the bipartisan bills put forward by Changing Stafford’s Roads passed both chambers of the General Assembly and were signed into law by the Governor, their fight is far from over. The new statewide laws come into effect on July 1, but lacking a matching ordinance at the local level, the bills only allow localities to trim roadside vegetation that VDOT neglects, not require it.

Fighting for the future

To ensure Stafford County has the required funds to improve rural road safety this past November the high schoolers fought for the passage of a $50 million transportation bond referendum—and won. As their support was critical to winning the new local transportation funding, advocates with Changing Stafford Roads plan to hold the Board of Supervisors to their word to fix rural roads that endanger them, their classmates, and all residents of the region.

Under the umbrella of their broader, expanded mission to make rural roads safer, the teenagers want to see more done to improve hairpin turns and boost sight lines for people needing to turn out onto 55mph roads. “It’s important that we straighten out these backroads so that they are safe,” said Chung. “We need to make sure that the money from that bond referendum goes to improve smaller roads and not just build big projects.”

With Chung, Sousa, and many of the rest of their fellow advocates graduating this year, Changing Stafford’s Roads may look different going forward, but the students are confident there are still enough people out there who care about rural road safety to hold local leaders accountable.

“We all remember the grief rooms after Helen died,” said Sousa. “We have younger siblings that will be joining our ranks soon.” No matter what their movement looks like in the future, Chung for one is happy with what her ragtag group of high schoolers achieved.

“Before all this I was a cheerleader, so this level of politics was something that I just didn’t pay attention to,” said Chung. “It’s been great to see that you can make change happen if you’re willing to fight for it. If we stopped even one person from having to go through what we went through, it was worth it. Those are the kind of people that Helen made us, and we would do it all over again for her.”