ACPD Blocking Key Bridge Access, Threatening Cyclists

[rcannon100]

@dasgeh 96317 wrote:

Last night it was asserted (almost in an aside, so not discussed) that it is not lawful for cars in the center lane to turn right on red. I believe I’ve seen that happen, and wonder whether there should be signage to indicate so, if we’re not going to have full time No Turn on Red for all.

Are you kidding??? It happens from the LEFT lane! (not a joke)

[dasgeh]

@arlrider 96287 wrote:

So in response to the recent further collisions at N. Lynn and Lee/66, and the subsequent ARLnow articles in which ACPD claimed to have been always maintaining a presence at that intersection (which in 5 years of passing through I have never consistently seen), ACPD has now decided that they will put officers there in the morning. This consists of placing officers far downstream of the intersection where they will have no impact and instead just sit and watch traffic block the box. Yesterday it was two standing talking just south of the GW Parkway onramp; today, one standing right next to the DC sign doing nothing. Moreover, they park their vehicles in a manner so as to to take up almost the entire sidewalk – see attached photo.

Today after I took this photo, from a distance and saying nothing, the officer scowled at me as I rode by and yelled “Do you have a problem?!”. I did not say anything or respond. So, this is where we’re at – cyclists being punished for being the victims of collisions, then threatened for documenting wastes of County resources.

Any thoughts on where to go with this? Chief Scott? ARLnow? Pro-cycling County Board members?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6758[/ATTACH]

The ABAC has been trying to work with ACPD, and I think the relationship is budding. Lt Green was at the meeting last night. There is definitely more enforcement at Lynn/Lee than there had been earlier this year. The question is, in my mind, what’s the best strategy to get ACPD to change. I worry that calling them out now, especially in instances like this where we don’t have the whole story, may make them do less.

What might make more sense is to write the County Board (I’d include all of them) with both the good and bad of what you’re seeing. Good: there is more enforcement, ACPD comes to ABAC quarterly, ACPD was at the Sept. 16th meeting with ABAC and others. Bad: enforcement is inconsistent; its not clear that the most dangerous activity is being cited (only warnings were given out during the “safety campaign” of Sept 16-17); we rarely see ACPD on bikes.

We have to recognize that resources are constrained, but it might be worth pointing out that, with more coordination with ArlCo staff and better bike/ped-specific training, ACPD could be making more of an impact protecting the safety of vulnerable road users.

[Subby]

I thought maybe he was monitoring traffic coming up the ramp and yielding to folks in the crosswalk there. I said good morning to him, he nodded back, I carried on. There was plenty of room there on the sidewalk for folks to get through.

[arlrider]

@dasgeh 96326 wrote:

There is definitely more enforcement at Lynn/Lee than there had been earlier this year. The question is, in my mind, what’s the best strategy to get ACPD to change. I worry that calling them out now, especially in instances like this where we don’t have the whole story, may make them do less.

Sorry, what exactly is being “enforced”? Every single morning, every single light cycle, NB Lynn traffic runs red and blocks the box. I’m supposed to get warm fuzzies because they have a guy 50 yards downstream staring at traffic, blocking the sidewalk with his vehicle, and threatening me? Well bless his heart, I can pay my tax bill knowing it’s going to a good cause.

I’m not really concerned about “calling them out” and I don’t need to give them a trophy for “trying”. They are employees of the taxpayer; they report to us.

And yes, I agree that “resources are constrained”, that’s why it irks me to see them being wasted.

@Subby 96333 wrote:

I thought maybe he was monitoring traffic coming up the ramp and yielding to folks in the crosswalk there. I said good morning to him, he nodded back, I carried on. There was plenty of room there on the sidewalk for folks to get through.

Not the case; traffic was blocking the crosswalk on the GW parkway ramp and this officer wasn’t lifting a finger. And what do you mean by “plenty of room”? There was not enough width for a cyclist to overtake a pedestrian safely. I had to dismount for this reason. I don’t consider that “plenty of room”.

[Subby]

@arlrider 96339 wrote:

Not the case; traffic was blocking the crosswalk on the GW parkway ramp and this officer wasn’t lifting a finger. And what do you mean by “plenty of room”? There was not enough width for a cyclist to overtake a pedestrian safely. I had to dismount for this reason. I don’t consider that “plenty of room”.

“I thought maybe”

I guess it all depends on perspective. I got through there with zero hassle so it didn’t really click with me that there was much of an issue. Not trying to marginalize your experience, just explain mine.

[arlrider]

Understood. You can see from the pic I posted that the rider passing by the police car is requiring the entire usable width of the open sidewalk. Therefore this is reducing a two-way thoroughfare to one-way usability, with no signage or provision for bi-directional travel or overtaking. I don’t consider this safe.

[Subby]

@arlrider 96344 wrote:

Understood. You can see from the pic I posted that the rider passing by the police car is requiring the entire usable width of the open sidewalk. Therefore this is reducing a two-way thoroughfare to one-way usability, with no signage or provision for bi-directional travel or overtaking. I don’t consider this safe.

Heh. You’re right. That’s ridiculous. Before looking at the pic my memory was of a huge swath of sidewalk being open.

It’s amazing what we notice and don’t notice when we are commuting. If a park police horse poops in the 15th street cycletrack and I almost roll through it I am firing off letters to my congressman (metaphorically) but if I can breezily squeeze between two illegally parked buses I’m all “oh hey – look at that blue sky!”

Anyway – I will also take some civic action. Thanks for bringing this up.

[dasgeh]

@arlrider 96339 wrote:

Sorry, what exactly is being “enforced”? Every single morning, every single light cycle, NB Lynn traffic runs red and blocks the box. I’m supposed to get warm fuzzies because they have a guy 50 yards downstream staring at traffic, blocking the sidewalk with his vehicle, and threatening me? Well bless his heart, I can pay my tax bill knowing it’s going to a good cause.

I’m not really concerned about “calling them out” and I don’t need to give them a trophy for “trying”. They are employees of the taxpayer; they report to us.

And yes, I agree that “resources are constrained”, that’s why it irks me to see them being wasted.

Not the case; traffic was blocking the crosswalk on the GW parkway ramp and this officer wasn’t lifting a finger. And what do you mean by “plenty of room”? There was not enough width for a cyclist to overtake a pedestrian safely. I had to dismount for this reason. I don’t consider that “plenty of room”.

Look, you don’t have to get snippy with me. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get the ACPD to protect vulnerable road users (not just at Lynn and Lee, but also there). The question is how best to achieve our ends. To point out that there was one officer who was… what? Having a bad day? Being lazy and rude for the 5 minutes you were there? Working on something you don’t know about? It seems there’s more to your story, and I’d love to hear it. But what you’ve posted isn’t a lot, and there are multiple interpretations, some of them reasonable, some of them not, none of them completely egregious.

As far as what they’re enforcing, according to data we got last night, almost 500 citations were issued at Lynn/Lee last year. I believe it’s been significantly fewer this year, but I’m not sure. Pointing out the trend over a year might be more effective than pointing to one incident on one morning.

Last night, we also heard about ACPD’s community forum. It would be great to have people there to request better enforcement of laws meant to protect bikes and peds.

[rcannon100]

More than one member of the forum saw the police doing what they were doing. I saw it too. I had eye contact with them and pointed to a car blatantly running a red light. They did nothing. Arlrider provides photographic evidence of just how poorly these officers were placed. Arlington police have a long track record of both not enforcing traffic laws at this intersection, and when interviewed by media, blaming cyclists for doing things like going too fast through the intersection (your kidding, right).

The Intersection of Doom has been a problem for decades. Arlington police have refused to be part of the solution. They have been directed to make an appearance, and that is what they have done: made an appearance.

One of the bigger questions is why they bother enforcement AT ALL. I have said this before. In the big city, when traffic intersections are disasters, traffic police show up and facilitate traffic flow. Its necessary because of infrastructure failure – infrastructure getting over whelmed. At some point Arlington needs to realize that the urban-village is more urban and less village, and start acting like the big kids. If an officer needs to be IN THE INTERSECTION negotiating traffic flow and safety, then do it.

I applaud Arlrider for speaking up. Arlco gave the bullst response recently that the Intersection of Doom was not taken account of because nobody had brought it up recently. I think that’s a challenge. It needs to be brought up over and over and over until it is fixed. And not cosmetic fixes but real fixes. Instead of criticizing Arlrider, I would like to thank Arlrider for engaging and pointing out a problem. We need more people who are willing to speak up.

[Terpfan]

@arlrider 96339 wrote:

Not the case; traffic was blocking the crosswalk on the GW parkway ramp and this officer wasn’t lifting a finger. And what do you mean by “plenty of room”? There was not enough width for a cyclist to overtake a pedestrian safely. I had to dismount for this reason. I don’t consider that “plenty of room”.

Out of curiosity, does he have the jurisdictional authority to ticket at that cross ramp? I was under the impression from others here that it’s still under NPS/PP.

[arlrider]

@dasgeh 96349 wrote:

The question is how best to achieve our ends.

By holding public servants accountable to those who pay their salaries?

@dasgeh 96349 wrote:

Having a bad day? Being lazy and rude for the 5 minutes you were there?

Glad you think it’s OK for a cop to be off his game for short periods. Hopefully he’s not handling his firearm or vehicle during those 5 minutes.

@dasgeh 96349 wrote:

It seems there’s more to your story, and I’d love to hear it. But what you’ve posted isn’t a lot, and there are multiple interpretations, some of them reasonable, some of them not, none of them completely egregious.

Nothing more to my story. Just a lack of ACPD involvement at that intersection, some misleading statements to ARLnow about them being present when they weren’t, and a follow up consisting of blocking the sidewalk on a daily basis while standing around doing nothing.

@dasgeh 96349 wrote:

As far as what they’re enforcing, according to data we got last night, almost 500 citations were issued at Lynn/Lee last year. I believe it’s been significantly fewer this year, but I’m not sure. Pointing out the trend over a year might be more effective than pointing to one incident on one morning.

Cool. That’s 1.5 citations per day. When I passed through on a single light cycle, there were THREE cars in the box at ONE TIME. So assume 30 second light cycle, 2 hour rush hour, all citations for red light running and crosswalk blocking…you’re asserting that ACPD is catching less than 1% of offenders. Great work!

Look, the short response is this – apologists get marginalized and smoothed over with easy words. People who stand up and demand accountability bring about change.

@Terpfan 96353 wrote:

Out of curiosity, does he have the jurisdictional authority to ticket at that cross ramp? I was under the impression from others here that it’s still under NPS/PP.

No idea! Was just responding to a though by another poster that perhaps the officer was checking traffic flow at that off ramp. Needless to say the boundaries are a bit blurred there – I think you’d need a couple attorneys and a GIS expert to figure out the answer to that question!

[Terpfan]

Yah, it’s such a confusing jurisdictional area between DC when you’re physically on the bridge to ArlCo to NPS. I know in the past when I called PP about a drunk driving on GWMP ramp heading back off, they basically said, well now it’s too late and out of our hands, putting the burden onto me to then figure out if I was technically in FFX or Arlington County heading south on GWMP and then call that police department. So not a whole lot of faith anything will ever occur jurisdiction-wise.

On the whole with the ACPD, the one positive I can say is at least there is some presence there now. When I first started coming up the Key Bridge way to a new job end of last winter/beginning of Spring, I think I saw police there once, maybe twice, between February and August that wasn’t accident-related. So while I wish they would park rationally, issue tickets, and be a nonstop presence there, I guess part of me figures something is better than the nothingness that existed before. I really hate that little area because it’s a crapshoot if drivers notice you or care to.

[arlrider]

@Terpfan 96358 wrote:

So while I wish they would park rationally, issue tickets, and be a nonstop presence there, I guess part of me figures something is better than the nothingness that existed before. I really hate that little area because it’s a crapshoot if drivers notice you or care to.

It’s actually that last part right there that makes me more unhappy with the fact that ACPD has a presence there but isn’t doing anything. Cops attract attention. Attracted attention = driver distraction. Odds that drivers are looking at the cops rather than cyclists/peds? High. Their presence could make things worse.

[dasgeh]

@arlrider 96356 wrote:

By holding public servants accountable to those who pay their salaries?

But HOW? I made some suggestions that I think will be more fruitful, precisely because the avoid the discussion of one particular instance on one particular day.

Maybe you’re missing it, but I AGREE WITH YOU: I think that ACPD should do more. It’s just an issue of tactics.

@arlrider 96356 wrote:

Glad you think it’s OK for a cop to be off his game for short periods. Hopefully he’s not handling his firearm or vehicle during those 5 minutes.

I think police are human and demanding that they be 100% perfect all the time isn’t going to get you very far. You’re right that we have higher expectations in certain situations – when they unholster their weapons, they better be on their game. This guy may have parked like a jerk, found out his dog died, then was challanged by you about his parking. Or he could just be a jerk. I just don’t know, and the entire discussion is a red herring to the real problem, which is:

@arlrider 96356 wrote:

Cool. That’s 1.5 citations per day. When I passed through on a single light cycle, there were THREE cars in the box at ONE TIME. So assume 30 second light cycle, 2 hour rush hour, all citations for red light running and crosswalk blocking…you’re asserting that ACPD is catching less than 1% of offenders. Great work!

Except it’s not great work. It needs to be better. And pointing that out to elected officials may have traction. I doubt saying “this one time this one cop was rude to me and parked on a sidewalk” is going to go as far.

@arlrider 96356 wrote:

Look, the short response is this – apologists get marginalized and smoothed over with easy words. People who stand up and demand accountability bring about change.

I don’t see any apologists here. I see people sticking up for the work they’ve been doing, and pointing out facts you might not know. I see people saying there are different ways to stand up and demand change, and how you do it will determine your impact.

[arlrider]

@dasgeh 96360 wrote:

was challanged by you about his parking.

I would just like to make it clear that I made no statement to this officer, nor did I even make eye contact. The photo was taken at a distance where I could have been photographing any number of things. Yet he seemed to know exactly what was up. It’s almost like he knew he was doing something wrong…

@dasgeh 96360 wrote:

I see people sticking up for the work they’ve been doing, and pointing out facts you might not know.

I’m a results-driven person and I haven’t seen any positive results.

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