Automated Counters – Alexandria

[Tim Kelley]

@mstone 138180 wrote:

I drive a lot.

So….have you driven through this specific intersection with this particular topic in mind?

It’s both. Not stopping at the stop bar first was bad behavior on the driver’s party, but having to pull fully into the crosswalk in order to see oncoming traffic is bad design, either on the part of the engineers or on the landscapers.

[CaseyKane50]

@bobco85 138175 wrote:

Also, I noticed that the bike counter on the Potomac Yard Trail near the Braddock Road Metro station is not listed on the dashboard. Is that counter malfunctioning?

The counter is not working properly and it will need to be relocated.

[scoot]

@Tim Kelley 138181 wrote:

It’s both. Not stopping at the stop bar first was bad behavior on the driver’s party, but having to pull fully into the crosswalk in order to see oncoming traffic is bad design, either on the part of the engineers or on the landscapers.

This conflict occurs everywhere. Almost every intersection in my neighborhood, for example. I’d guess that the vast majority of intersections with these parameters (i.e. crosswalks just past stop signs that are not all-way stops) require a driver to pull forward through the crosswalk in order to see when it is safe to turn.

Not here, but parked vehicles are the most common sightline obstruction in such cases.

[bobco85]

@Tim Kelley 138178 wrote:

Have you ever driven out of there in a vehicle? The sight lines are terrible.

I used to get annoyed with people pulling out into the crosswalks, but it really is just a bad design. I’m mean I still do get annoyed, but I used to also.

My main issue with the driver is that they acted like the crosswalk (and people like me about to enter it) was invisible. I understand having to pull out into the crosswalk in order to see due to poor sightlines, but one needs to actually stop first and look before pulling out into a crosswalk. A similar pet peeve of mine is when drivers use crosswalks as stop lines when coming up to a red light which forces pedestrians to go into the intersection to get around them.

@CaseyKane50 138187 wrote:

The counter is not working properly and it will need to be relocated.

Aw, does this mean my video is already going to be out of date? I’m glad all of the others are working, though.

[scoot]

@bobco85 138198 wrote:

My main issue with the driver is that they acted like the crosswalk (and people like me about to enter it) was invisible.

Windshield perspective: why should I stop so far back? Surely there won’t be any cars coming down that sidewalk…

[mstone]

@Tim Kelley 138181 wrote:

It’s both. Not stopping at the stop bar first was bad behavior on the driver’s party, but having to pull fully into the crosswalk in order to see oncoming traffic is bad design, either on the part of the engineers or on the landscapers.

It’s incredibly common to have to pull forward to see. I can’t leave my neighborhood without going through one of several such intersections. It’s so common, that eliminating that would require a massive rebuild of a significant fraction of our infrastructure. I don’t know what it has to do with not stopping before the crosswalk. I can’t tell from the video, but I’d guess that the driver never once looked to the right while going through the stop, because they were only looking for oncoming cars on the left. That’s not a design problem, that’s a driver problem.

[Tim Kelley]

@mstone 138202 wrote:

I can’t leave my neighborhood without going through one of several such intersections. It’s so common, that eliminating that would require a massive rebuild of a significant fraction of our infrastructure.

Just because it’s common doesn’t mean that it’s not bad design…and you don’t have to continue to try to convince me otherwise. :rolleyes: Have a great weekend!

[lordofthemark]

Granted the driver behavior was also a problem.

But wrt to infrastructure, you don’t have to rebuild everything. Because there are lots and lots of quiet neighborhood streets where there are few pedestrians and even interested but concerned cyclists can easily take the lane. I guess it is particularly annoying at the Potomac Yard shopping center, because that is the designated bike route connecting the quite bikeable and urbanist Potomac Yards South with Crystal City, Four Mile Run Trail, and the MVT.

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 138204 wrote:

But wrt to infrastructure, you don’t have to rebuild everything. Because there are lots and lots of quiet neighborhood streets where there are few pedestrians and even interested but concerned cyclists can easily take the lane.

Few pedestrians != no pedestrians. Drivers still kinda need to look when they drive over a crosswalk regardless of where the cyclists are.

[lordofthemark]

@mstone 138215 wrote:

Few pedestrians != no pedestrians. Drivers still kinda need to look when they drive over a crosswalk regardless of where the cyclists are.

I was thinking more of the issue of blocking the crosswalk.

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