The sign is several feet tall, and in huge capital letters asks this:
WHAT KIND OF A PERSON HITS A DOG AND KEEPS DRIVING
I saw it this morning for the first time driving home from church, headed West on East Colonial Highway, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
When I can’t stop thinking about something, I write.
I don’t think there is a single correct answer to the question, but what one’s answer is is less important than the fact that this question needs to be processed as well as any of us can.
Why do we have this question?
Our community is in pain. Anyone living on or near Colonial Highway in Hamilton has felt this pain. It’s the pain of intelligent, thoughtful people pleading for recognition and help, and feeling ignored; worse than feeling ignored, it’s a feeling of creeping threat, not a static thing to be overturned but a problem that shows itself metastasizing in insidious ways.
In short sentences, our town is a cut-through route for some people to get from a place outside of our community to another place outside of our community that they want to reach.
And in short, what everyone feared has happened. A life was lost.
I’ve seen 2 basic types of lawbreakers who are the problem.
As a straightaway with no stop signs and no traffic lights, Colonial Highway is (apparently) a great temptation for show-offs. These tend to be younger male drivers, but not exclusively. Driving as fast as you can because you can, especially when the weather is as nice as it is becoming now, is something some people do.
It is against the law and deadly. Full stop.
More often, though, I believe drivers who don’t live here don’t “see” us.
Because of the way the area around Hamilton has developed over the years, our primarily residential small-town neighborhood is hybridized by a state road. With no law enforcement of our own, we are literally left to rely on the kindness of strangers to feel safe in our own community.
That’s very difficult if not impossible to do.
The second set of speeders and distracted drivers are usually commuting, putting on make-up, talking on the phone, or thinking about getting to the next bit of their drive to where they are headed.
I don’t know how to communicate with people outside of the community to process Hamilton as a neighborhood. We are very much a residential community of families of all ages and stages and pet ownership and interests.
We are not a highway.
Not really.
VDOT doesn’t seem to know what do with our hybridized place, and lobbying for speed cameras was unsuccessful last legislative session. Our mayor continues to engage the Virginia General Assembly and COLT to find solutions.
The last Hamilton Town Council public comment period made it clear that residents are ready and willing and able to fight for our home.
Someone asked recently, “What has to happen for change? Does someone have to die?” And quite frankly, the response from VDOT suggests that.
This is not something we are willing to accept.
This is a neighborhood, not really a highway. We may need a marketing campaign that plasters that message all over Western Loudoun, I don’t know.
What I do know is I’m glad I saw that sign this morning. And I hope it keeps being seen.
It’s part of something right.
If you have comments and thoughts, I hope you will share them here or online, or in a private e-mail to anyone of your choosing on Town Council.
A Better Hamilton 
Thank you, Elizabeth. I think there is a third category of people. They just do not know how fast they are going. We have them cranking up our side road, so anxious to get to Rt. 7. Our street is lined with 25mph signs and people continue to whiz by. As you say, they don’t see us.
Please, neighbors from the outskirts of Hamilton and Lincoln slow down. Please actually look at your speedometer when you drive through town or down my street.
We do not want any more accidents.
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I agree, though in my thinking they are similar to the distracted driver category. They are not paying attention to what they are doing.
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It’s my sign. I am angry, sad and frustrated. Apparently “THE SIGN” is inflammatory. There are comments on a Hamilton FB page that indicate some people are more offended by the sign than fact that there was a hit-n- run incident in Hamilton. In fact, this is the 4th hit-n-run incident (that I personally know about) in 5 weeks – 2 mail boxes, a stop sign, and a dog. Will a child be next? What’s it going to take for change to happen? Is it really so important to get to work 5 seconds faster that we should speed through Hamiton? Colonial Highway has been here for over 100 years. So have most of the houses along Colonial Highway. Where is the empathy and sense of community in Hamilton? If we’re not here to help and take care of each other, why are we here?
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I wish I could tell you. I don’t know. It is true that this town has been here awhile and people have lived on this road for awhile. It is also true that to some degree when one, esp. in the 21st century, buys a home on this road, you acknowledge what it is. We are a residential community but not living on a residential road, that’s the problem as I see it.
I don’t think anyone who lives in Hamilton is doing the hit and runs or dangerous driving. What your sign did for me was get me thinking about how important it is the town council and residents work as a team. One voice to people who can facilitate change by communicating our concerns to the larger community.
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