MT Vernon Trail DCA Detour

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  • December 12, 2015 at 5:41 pm #917664
    Fairlington124
    Participant

    Around 9:45 AM today (Sat 12 December), was taking the detour on the Mt Vernon Trail near the airport. I had made my way into the middle of the ad hoc crosswalk. I saw a SUV coming down the road (leaving the airport to GW Parkway) and he didn’t appear to be slowing down. I was wearing a red shirt and I waved my arm to get his attention. He continued to not slow down.

    I then yelled at him through his driver’s side window (“YOU HAVE TO STOP”) as he went by. I normally don’t do this, nor do I care for those who do it, but this was such a blatant case of negligent driving on his part. I was already in the crosswalk, and the plastic sign says “Yield to pedestrians in crosswalk”. I had waved my arm, and I believe that he saw me as well. There was nothing that the usual bike accident skeptics could have held against me…I was in the crosswalk, visible, and being prudent.

    I didn’t ID his tags, and his description as an older white man (and white wife) with MD tags in an SUV does nothing since that’s so generic. I think regular riders get a feel for when drivers are (or are not) going to properly slow down/yield. As a motorist, I always try to positively indicate that I am aware of the pedestrian’s right of way, via either a hand gesture or headlight blink. As a biker, sadly, I have to wait on those, as I cannot expect drivers to respect right-of-way.

    Rest of the ride was good. Really nice day. No problems on the 14th Street bridge.

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  • December 14, 2015 at 3:26 am #1042893
    Rootchopper
    Participant

    This is especially messed up because the SUV had to cross three sets of rumble strips to get to that crosswalk.

    December 14, 2015 at 12:57 pm #1042894
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    I encountered a taxi driver in Pentagon City who did something similar a while back. I was riding on 12th St. with a green light. He was approaching in the opposite direction, from the mall, also with the green light. He began a left turn. I was already halfway through the intersection, crossing Hayes St. toward the mall. I’m pretty sure he could see me. Even though it was in the evening, that area is very brightly lit. He actually sped up to make his turn, so that he would reach the intersection at the same time as I did. There was no other traffic so he wasn’t trying to beat any oncoming car traffic or anything else. He was asserting his right to run me over. I had to speed up to avoid him, even though I knew he was entirely in the wrong. If I slowed down to make a point, that would only have gotten me run over.

    Unfortunately, there are some homicidal jerks on the roads, which really isn’t a surprise to most people who have spent time riding around. Most drivers are not like this, but a significant minority are.

    December 14, 2015 at 2:47 pm #1042896
    Rootchopper
    Participant

    Don’t take this so personally. I was driving in DC on Sunday and the number of boneheaded, dangerous, aggressive things I saw drivers do was truly impressive.

    December 14, 2015 at 2:55 pm #1042898
    GovernorSilver
    Participant

    I assume drivers are not going to stop for anybody – pedestrian or cyclist (mounted or not) – on a crosswalk. It shouldn’t be that way but that’s how it is. I go when a car actually stops.

    Sometimes there’s confusion like on the crosswalk on Braddock, between the end of Potomac Ave Trail and the 7-Eleven. One car will stop to let me cross, but the other car on the next lane over rolls right through.

    December 14, 2015 at 6:22 pm #1042914
    MFC
    Participant

    On a different note, there is a Strava segment for part of that detour named Col de Wood Chip, which should be in the running best segment name. It also has a top speed of 76.4 mph, which seems a little suspect.

    December 14, 2015 at 7:25 pm #1042920
    Raymo853
    Participant

    @GovernorSilver 129781 wrote:

    I assume drivers are not going to stop for anybody – pedestrian or cyclist

    It is always better to be happy (and healthy) than right.

    December 28, 2015 at 7:34 pm #1043513
    Brendan von Buckingham
    Participant

    I had a similar but different experience crossing GWP at south side of Memorial Circle earlier this fall. I was standing waiting for cars to yield to me as required by the sign. The far lane yielded. The near lane did not yield. I told the near car what I thought of his maneuver and proceeded across. Once across I heard screeching tires to my right and looked over that shoulder to see that the car that previously couldn’t yield for me had come to a screeching halt 30 feet past the crosswalk. The driver got out of his car and began to sprint at me across the circle. Which I had to laugh at since it would be charitable to call his foot-speed a “sprint” and the longer he tried to catch me the funnier it got. Funny except for the fact that he was obviously troubled and his abandoned car was blocking half of the parkway. So I stopped toying with him and picked up the pace to my regular cadence and let him be.

    December 28, 2015 at 7:37 pm #1043514
    Fairlington124
    Participant

    You should have strung him along by keeping just a hair above his pace, but close enough to him so that he might think he could catch up with you.

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