Another car driver on the W&OD

[bobco85]

What happened to the bright yellow bollard that was supposed to be there? It annoys me that it was missing in the exact case where it’d be most useful. I’ll write an e-mail to the NVRPA about this later tonight, so hopefully they’ll replace it soon.

She wasn’t going fast, but still, people walk babies and children

So, the driver pulled a very dangerous move yet managed to do it in a somewhat less dangerous way. It’s like the lesser of two evils.

The woman parked her car near the caboose. After a few minutes, she got out of her car and went for a run.

Looks like using the trail to cut through traffic was completely intentional to me. She probably ran on the same trail that she was just driving on, too, I’ll bet!

[PotomacCyclist]

Seems like she felt it was overly burdensome to have to drive FIVE MORE FEET and take the parking lot car lane, which runs parallel to that section of the trail. Bizarre.

[TrikerOne]

@bobco85 76434 wrote:

What happened to the bright yellow bollard that was supposed to be there? It annoys me that it was missing in the exact case where it’d be most useful. I’ll write an e-mail to the NVRPA about this later tonight, so hopefully they’ll replace it soon.

So, the driver pulled a very dangerous move yet managed to do it in a somewhat less dangerous way. It’s like the lesser of two evils.

Looks like using the trail to cut through traffic was completely intentional to me. She probably ran on the same trail that she was just driving on, too, I’ll bet!

Those bollards are getting knocked over on a regular basis.

[brendan]

@TrikerOne 76436 wrote:

Those bollards are getting knocked over on a regular basis.

By bikes or cars?

[dkel]

@TrikerOne 76436 wrote:

Those bollards are getting knocked over on a regular basis.

They have been down for months, and were clearly broken off by something. I’ve personally seen people try to turn onto the trail in their cars there, as well as by the Vienna community center…must be something about Vienna.

[jabberwocky]

When I used to commute that way, I saw cars take the W&OD as a shortcut between Maple Ave and Church St on a fairly regular basis (4-5 times per year). Always when traffic was backed up on Maple; I think some people just saw it as an easy shortcut over to Church.

[mstone]

The bollard has always been useless. They need a more effective treatment, see archive for previous discussion.

[Steve O]

@mstone 76443 wrote:

The bollard has always been useless. They need a more effective treatment, see archive for previous discussion.

Not only useless, but dangerous. I suspect that numerous cyclists are caused to crash by these bollards every year. Although they are flexible, the bases are bolted to the ground. If your tire hits the base, you are likely to fall.

The reason that they are missing half the time is because they are being struck. Therefore they do not work. They are either being driven over, which defeats their purpose in the first place, or they are causing cyclists to crash. Also a “Fail.”

There are better solutions, primarily using paint and signs, that would not endanger cyclists and would make it obvious that it’s a trail. There are also ways to redesign the trail so that it is impossible to mistake. These are more expensive than paint and signs.

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[sjclaeys]

I think that I’ve seen someone regularly drive on the 4MRT to the tennis courts at Bluemont around 6:30 am.

[PotomacCyclist]

A couple years ago, I saw a police officer driving on FMR Trail, near Mt. Vernon Ave. Just ahead of me. He or she wasn’t pursuing a criminal or taking care of an emergency situation. The officer just decided to drive along the trail, for whatever reason. Maybe he was lost, but that’s kind of odd for a police officer. You would think that they would know that cars are not supposed to be on the trail.

[cyclingfool]

I’ve seen cops on the Alexandria side of 4MR near Commonwealth a few times. Again, no emergency, no pursuit. Lazy patrol?

As for knowing they’re not supposed to be on the trail, they either don’t know and think they’re allowed, or, more likely given my personal experience with and opinion of lots of cops, just don’t give a flying flip and do it anyway. There are lots of good, hardworking and fair cops, but the profession also seems to attract and/or create a disproportionate number of pricks IMHO.

[consularrider]

@cyclingfool 76454 wrote:

I’ve seen cops on the Alexandria side of 4MR near Commonwealth a few times. Again, no emergency, no pursuit. Lazy patrol?

As for knowing they’re not supposed to be on the trail, they either don’t know and think they’re allowed, or, more likely given my personal experience with and opinion of lots of cops, just don’t give a flying flip and do it anyway. There are lots of good, hardworking and fair cops, but the profession also seems to attract and/or create a disproportionate number of pricks IMHO.

In the morning there is frequently an Alexandria Police car parked across from the Arlington Water Treatment plant. I can never figure out what the officer is doing there, maybe it’s a mandatory break? We’ve mentioned before about seeing police cruisers and county and park maintenance vehicles routining using the trails. For the police, it seems to be related to some sort of incident on the trail. After one of those I see an increased police presence for a couple of weeks. I expect the broken flex posts are more likely because of county vehicles than the random confused driver.

[Terpfan]

I’m ok with the cops on the trail figuring it reduces those rare instances of crime. Not ok when they’re writing silly tickets to cyclists or otherwise inhibiting significant use of the trail.

[bobco85]

I got a response from a park manager at NVRPA (I had e-mailed their general address Feedback@NVRPA.org)

…
Thank you for your interest in the W&OD Trail. As we speak our maintenance staff is enroute to replace the missing bollard with new ones. We have replaced several bollards over the past few months due to someone ripping off the bollards. Earlier today I purchased new ones that bolt into the ground. Hopefully that will take care of the issue, but please feel free to contact me should you encounter any other issues during your travels on the W&OD Trail.
…

[jabberwocky]

@Terpfan 76476 wrote:

I’m ok with the cops on the trail figuring it reduces those rare instances of crime. Not ok when they’re writing silly tickets to cyclists or otherwise inhibiting significant use of the trail.

I’m ok with cops on the trail if they are actually doing something that necessitates it (searching for a suspect, patrolling for crime, etc). I’m not ok with them using it as their own special shortcut between roads. I’ve seen both cops and NVRPA vehicles use the trail as a shortcut on a few occasions.

[Author]

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