Another accident at the GW Parkway crossing

[Arlingtonrider]

That’s great news! Nice paragraph at the end too. Thanks for all your posts keeping us up to date on these things.

[thucydides]

It’s nice to seen an effort being made and I suppose I should see this as a good first step. But I fail to see how any of this will change the fundamental problem. (Perhaps I’m just not comprehending the changes correctly.) We’re still going to have on-grade crossings on a roadway where vehicles go way over the posted speed limits. I don’t see how more signs or rumble strips will change things.

[Arlingtonrider]

I don’t think anyone views this as a total solution, but as you say – it’s a start, and hopefully will make things better than they have been up to now. Clearly, more is needed for a real solution.

[DaveK]

First crosswalk warning signs went up this morning –

https://twitter.com/notthatdsk/status/213631608647987200

[ShawnoftheDread]

Is that a ’72 Olds in the frame on the right? Sweet.

[dasgeh]

@DaveK 22397 wrote:

First crosswalk warning signs went up this morning

I saw them going up! Hooray! (Oh, wait, I don’t commute through here any more…) I am a little disappointed that they seem to be focusing more on the “top of the hill” crossings (Washington Blvd and the ramp to Memorial drive) and less on the actually GWP crossing, which is really dangerous.

[DaveK]

@dasgeh 22406 wrote:

I saw them going up! Hooray! (Oh, wait, I don’t commute through here any more…) I am a little disappointed that they seem to be focusing more on the “top of the hill” crossings (Washington Blvd and the ramp to Memorial drive) and less on the actually GWP crossing, which is really dangerous.

As I understand it they’re going to get to installing signs at those other ones after the first one nearest the circle that was done this morning. It’s possible that by the time I go home they may be down there putting in more signs. I’ll go that way this afternoon and check it out.

[pfunkallstar]

Man this is huge – forward progress, NPS, I’m just so confused… Does anyone have access to any statistics regarding incidents at the intersections in question? I feel like it is time for some public monitoring.

[dbb]

Took a look at the signs at the crosswalk across the GWMP south of the Memorial Bridge. Please note that the snow fence along the parkway is there to manage the July 4 crowds.

It looks to me that the warning sign (the first sign the motorist sees) is too close to the crosswalk.

The distance between the first sign the motorist comes to and the crosswalk is about 125 feet. At 40 mph, the posted speed limit, reaction and stopping distance is about 160 feet according to some very authoritative-looking web pages.

It would seem that the first sign would merely explain to a motorist why the car in front of them has just applied their brakes.

While this seems to be a start and will likely improve safety, I think that some analysis and traffic engineering is necessary.

[baiskeli]

@dbb 22518 wrote:

It looks to me that the warning sign (the first sign the motorist sees) is too close to the crosswalk.

Yep, first thing I noticed too.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Yup, these signs are way too close. As someone who drives through this particular crossing much more than riding through it, I’d say NPS doesn’t really understand the problem. Yes, cars do need to be warned about peds, but I think the biggest problem here is the driver 3 cars back that rear ends someone because they aren’t expecting cars in front of them to stop. This discourages people in-the-know from stopping because it’s preferable to inconvenience a ped than get rear-ended. So there needs to be indicators (preferably flashing, to grab attention) at least a couple 10ths of a mile back, so the whole long line of cars understands that traffic may be slowing down.

[DismalScientist]

How about a “Watch for stopped cars” sign?

[dasgeh]

My brother flew in for the weekend, so I drove back and forth to the airport a few times this weekend, which meant driving through this area. Traffic actually went around 40-45 MPH through the area (on GWP), which was a first for me. I think it was the snow fencing (the traffic slowed before we saw any signs).

And I agree, the signs are way too close to the actually cross walks. What would be helpful would be a a sign before all of the merging saying “slow – Pedestrians present” (since there are crosswalks across all of the different roads one may take).

[rcannon100]

Another accident involving the bollards at the MVT Bridge over the GW Parkway at Roosevelt this morning. It appears that a young woman (who was wearing flip flops) failed to navigate the descent down from the Custis Trail to the bridge over the GW. There were about 5 cyclists stopped trying to help her. She looked okay – I did not see blood. But the conversation going on was whether she would walk (not ride) out of there.

That little hill is a beast – and the bollard dead square in the center of the trail doesnt help – there is absolutely no way a car is going to reach that point on the trail.

[consularrider]

@rcannon100 22759 wrote:

Another accident involving the bollards at the MVT Bridge over the GW Parkway at Roosevelt this morning. It appears that a young woman (who was wearing flip flops) failed to navigate the descent down from the Custis Trail to the bridge over the GW. There were about 5 cyclists stopped trying to help her. She looked okay – I did not see blood. But the conversation going on was whether she would walk (not ride) out of there.

That little hill is a beast – and the bollard dead square in the center of the trail doesnt help – there is absolutely no way a car is going to reach that point on the trail.

Maybe this was why there was an ambulance at Lynn and Lee at 8:30 this morning.

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