How Bad Is Your Commute? Videotape It

FAIRFAX, Va -- How would you like to tell lawmakers what your commute is really like? You may soon get your chance.

The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority wants residents in the northern part of the state to record themselves on video, talking about how bad traffic and congestion have become, and then post the message to a special YouTube site. The hope is that the messages will push lawmakers to provide funding for critical transportation projects in Northern Virginia.

The NVTA will talk about the idea at its monthly meeting Thursday night, with the program scheduled to go into effect April 14.

"It is our hope that Virginia's legislators will take immediate action and find the funding necessary to ensure that Northern Virginia's economy continues to grow and thrive, ultimately benefiting the commonwealth and all Virginians," reads the description on the NVTA's YouTube Channel.

The "Piece of your Commute" campaign goes on to say, "Northern Virginians, who are sick of traffic and gridlock, are encouraged to share their commuting nightmares with legislators. Residents are encouraged to share images of their daily commute and the impact that traffic and gridlock has on their job, business, family, environment and quality of life."

All content would be monitored, so it must be appropriate and it needs to be submitted before May 15, according to what's currently posted on the YouTube site.

Before you think "This is crazy. I'm not going to use a camera while driving," the rules for submission are very clear on NVTA's YouTube site.

They say,"WARNING! PLEASE DON'T USE CAMERAS WHILE DRIVING and TRIPODS ARE PROHIBITED in Metro stations - please use hand-held cameras only on Metro."

The NVTA is the same group that recently had its taxing power stripped away by the state Supreme Court. The Authority planned to use hundreds of millions of dollars from those taxes to pay for critical transportation projects in Northern Virginia.

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