Alexandria PD Ticketing Cyclists

[worktheweb]

The ride home on Washington Street was a bit less pleasant last night — had a guy in a maroon Acura decide to honk and get aggressive in the HOV lane. He pulls up beside me to yell at me and I notice he’s a single driver and mention “Hey there’s only one of you, you’re not allowed in the HOV lane” — not a fan of the truth, he cut in front of me aggressively, but that was right before traffic stopped, so I just filtered around him. He eventually left the HOV lane to be aggressive in the center lane. The funny thing was that I wasn’t going slower than the traffic, he just hates people on bikes. The Southbound evening route isn’t as pleasant even without the aggressive driver, the huge mass of cars trying to turn to get to 95 really makes for a lot of stop and go South of King. That said, the backup on the Parkway was particularly bad last night as I rode by, so I may do a few more runs to see if it was a one-off thing.

I rode in via Washington again this morning and it was amazing how much faster it was than my other route. It saved me about 7 minutes to a normal checkpoint and got me in within 3 minutes of my record time (I wasn’t trying for it). It is a lot less scenic, but having a ~10% reduction in travel time is significant.

[Terpfan]

@worktheweb 125679 wrote:

The ride home on Washington Street was a bit less pleasant last night — had a guy in a maroon Acura decide to honk and get aggressive in the HOV lane. He pulls up beside me to yell at me and I notice he’s a single driver and mention “Hey there’s only one of you, you’re not allowed in the HOV lane” — not a fan of the truth, he cut in front of me aggressively, but that was right before traffic stopped, so I just filtered around him. He eventually left the HOV lane to be aggressive in the center lane. The funny thing was that I wasn’t going slower than the traffic, he just hates people on bikes. The Southbound evening route isn’t as pleasant even without the aggressive driver, the huge mass of cars trying to turn to get to 95 really makes for a lot of stop and go South of King. That said, the backup on the Parkway was particularly bad last night as I rode by, so I may do a few more runs to see if it was a one-off thing.

I rode in via Washington again this morning and it was amazing how much faster it was than my other route. It saved me about 7 minutes to a normal checkpoint and got me in within 3 minutes of my record time (I wasn’t trying for it). It is a lot less scenic, but having a ~10% reduction in travel time is significant.

Sorry to hear about the lame-o-driver. It’s weird, I’ve yet to encounter much resistance on Washington St. The way home is particularly fun since I clear OT faster than 80% of the cars. I love it.

I do think it’s faster too. For me, it probably saves ~5 minutes, but I’ll take 10 minutes a day because that is almost an hour a week.

This morning I had the fun 11y. I agree wit GS, it probably slows drivers more than I do. I eventually passed the bus on Abingdon. Still faster than the Royal St way plus no potential for a ticket.

[ian74]

I’m not sure I understand, are there police enforcing stops on Union all the time now? Everyday? AM/PM rush?

[worktheweb]

@ian74 125693 wrote:

I’m not sure I understand, are there police enforcing stops on Union all the time now? Everyday? AM/PM rush?

It is still sporadic and relatively infrequent. The last time I actually saw enforcement was last Fall (a year ago), however, with the Washington Post article and other reports from cyclists it appears they had another enforcement wave. As for its current status, I can’t really say.

I’m just tired of being singled out for something drivers get a pass for, even though they drivers are the ones who can injure and kill. 33,000+ dead from cars and 6 people dead from being hit by bikes in the average year … only going after the cohort that creates five orders of magnitude less danger is irresponsible. I’ve got better things to do with $91 dollars than to give it to the city of Alexandria at the behest of the Old Town Civic Association, and I’ll save a lot of money that I might have spent at the businesses I used to pass every day down there too.

I’m sure APD will get complaints about all the cyclists on Washington Street, but there isn’t much they can do about that … after all, it is perfectly legal. There are even “Share the Road” signs on the route. Unintended consequences …

[Rootchopper]

Enforcement seems to have gone away. I haven’t seen a ticketing cop in my last four commutes.
Last night riding south on Union Street a white SUV passed me as I came to a stop at a stop sign. The SUV driver never touched her brakes, blowing through the stop sign at about 20 miles per hour. An elderly man stood at the corner of the intersection. His jaw dropped and he raised his hand as if to say, “What the hell?!” Having stopped at the sign, I turned to him and said, “And bicycles are the problem?”

The driver pulled her SUV over aggressively about 100 feet down the road. As I passed her I saw her fiddling with her cell phone.

[consularrider]

I saw a real bad example of that of that in this evening’s “rush” hour by my bagel store on Artema (now officially Sichovykh Striltsiv – but just try and say that three times fast) St at Smirnova-Lactovkina St. There is a all-way pedestrian crossing (Barnes dance) at the intersection. While the pedestrian light was on, a large white SUV (Lexus?) about a block back pulled out of the stopped traffic into the oncoming lane, zoomed around everyone, made a right turn across two lanes without slowing, narrowly missing several pedestrians. Must have been a self important oligarch. :confused:

[lordofthemark]

@consularrider 125783 wrote:

I saw a real bad example of that of that in this evening’s “rush” hour by my bagel store on Artema (now officially Sichovykh Striltsiv – but just try and say that three times fast) St at Smirnova-Lactovkina St. There is a all-way pedestrian crossing (Barnes dance) at the intersection. While the pedestrian light was on, a large white SUV (Lexus?) about a block back pulled out of the stopped traffic into the oncoming lane, zoomed around everyone, made a right turn across two lanes without slowing, narrowly missing several pedestrians. Must have been a self important oligarch. :confused:

Wait, they have bagel shops in Kiev? Local traditions, or American style? – which I would find culturally fascinating, like Pizza Hut in Naples – though I am not sure about the actual geographic distribution historically, or how they related to other ring shaped breads. I wonder if one can get a bialy in Bialystok, Belarus.

Edit: wiki says they are first referenced in Krakow and seem to be more a Polish language area thing (though the word is of German origin), though there are references to it being in Slavic areas generally.

Then there is this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bublik

And this, which I believe I saw being called a bagel in Israel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simit

[consularrider]

I run across several “New York Bagel” outlets in Kyiv. The one mentioned above is about a mile from our apartment and is on one of our regular dog walk route. They’re pretty good and in several varieties. In Spain we could get bagels at the American Store near our apartment of from the English store in San Sebastian de los Reyes. The bagels in both stores came from the UK (different bakers though). I don’t remember finding bagels in Bucharest. In Buenos Aires there was a bagel store and deli I think way out in either Martinez or San Isidro (google finds ones that weren’t there 15 years ago).

We did have Taco Bell in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Certainly easy to get off topic.

[lordofthemark]

Wow. According to the Wiki Bublik article, Ukraine is where the bagel was born, though it received its Germanic/Yiddish name in Krakow. So it went Ukraine-Poland-New York-Ukraine. A loop one could say (to get a little bit back on topic. )

[lordofthemark]

@lordofthemark 125161 wrote:

Right turns not yet prohibited red though, eh? Has to go through the T&PB. Whenever T&ES says “That will need to go through the Traffic and Parking Board” I put it in the “do not count on it happening” category. Welcome to Alexandria, grasshopper.

I am pleased to report that the Traffic and Parking Board has approved no right on red at Commonwealth and Braddock. Alexandria moves ahead, even if in this instance only after someone was killed.

In December the Traffic and Parking Board will meet to consider reducing the speed limit to 25 mph on Seminary east of 395, and on Quaker from King to Duke. The former with the support of the City, the latter without, though that is a question of some controversy, IIUC.

[Terpfan]

I drove today as I have an evening meeting, rain, and because my hip still hurts some from fall on Friday (yay for getting stitches out tomorrow), but on the plus side, I noticed a cop standing at Rt 1 and Franklin street ticketing drivers who didn’t stop for red/pedestrians. Albeit, this would be far more helpful to some of us who ride in the area if he did it on a non-rainy day, but it’s progress from the usual nonsense of ticketing every cyclist.

[Fairlington124]

@lordofthemark 127640 wrote:

I am pleased to report that the Traffic and Parking Board has approved no right on red at Commonwealth and Braddock. Alexandria moves ahead, even if in this instance only after someone was killed.

In December the Traffic and Parking Board will meet to consider reducing the speed limit to 25 mph on Seminary east of 395, and on Quaker from King to Duke. The former with the support of the City, the latter without, though that is a question of some controversy, IIUC.

Now the goal needs to ban right-on-red (with no exceptions) at the following types of intersections:

-Speed limit above 25 MPH for the street being turned onto.
-Blind turn or limited visibility turn
-Adjacent to, or within, residential neighborhoods
-High-volume pedestrian intersections
-Within .25 or .5 miles of Metro stations

I was hit on an illegal right-on-red back in the Spring of this year. It was a “No right on right (When pedestrians are present)” signed intersection. People don’t notice or care about the “When pedestrians are present” condition, so ban it outright.

If all of these criteria result in the majority of the City being non right-on-red then so much the better.

[Steve O]

@Fairlington124 127692 wrote:

Now the goal needs to ban right-on-red (with no exceptions) at the following types of intersections:

-Speed limit above 25 MPH for the street being turned onto.
-Blind turn or limited visibility turn
-Adjacent to, or within, residential neighborhoods
-High-volume pedestrian intersections
-Within .25 or .5 miles of Metro stations

I was hit on an illegal right-on-red back in the Spring of this year. It was a “No right on right (When pedestrians are present)” signed intersection. People don’t notice or care about the “When pedestrians are present” condition, so ban it outright.

If all of these criteria result in the majority of the City being non right-on-red then so much the better.

In urban areas like DC, Arlington, Alexandria No-right-on-red should be the default, imo. Then signs can be put up for exceptions: “Right on Red Allowed After Complete Stop” Anecdotally, it seems many of the pedestrians who are hit by cars (and close calls) are red-light-right-turners. A true commitment to Vision Zero dictates this change.

This is the case in NYC. Right on red is prohibited unless a sign allows it.

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