Between you me and the lamp post

[lordofthemark]

Inspired by discussion of lamp posts at the IoD.

There are several on my commute that drive me crazy.

There are two poorly situated ones on the sidewalk on the east side of King Street in Alexandria, between Park Center Drive and 30th. Unfortunately there is no way to avoid them even for someone willing to ride in King (because of a median preventing a left onto 30th).

There is a bad one on the 4MRT just before the left turn at Shirlington Road (this has helped motivate me to take the lane on Arlington Mill on my inbound commutes. I have still not seen my way to taking the lane there going outbound, but suppose I should consider it)

There is the terrible (and unavoidable) one at the east end of the 14th Street bridge. Though that one at least is actually supposed to move as part of an NPS project, IIUC.

There are a couple, one being particularly awful, on the northeast side of Maine between the fish market and 9th street. Those at least will be avoidable when The Wharf is further along, and taking the lane on Maine may become more comfortable even sooner.

What are your thoughts on these and other lamp posts?

Topic

[komorebi]

@CaseyKane50 126578 wrote:

I told them the buttons didn’t work down at Glebe and Potomac Avenue. They said those buttons were fixed last week.

If by “fixed” they mean that they moved the buttons, then yes, that’s true. I noticed starting last week that the pedestrian button nearest Potomac Ave. is the one you now hit if you want to cross Potomac Ave. In fact, you can see the old drill holes in the posts from when they moved the button boxes.

There are still a couple of problems with the pedestrian buttons, though.

First, there’s an arrow on top of the Potomac Ave. button box, to help indicate which signal is controlled by the button. Unfortunately, the arrow points the wrong way. The arrow points west, even though the pedestrian signal is east.

Second, the pedestrian signal to cross Glebe is automatic — i.e., it comes on even if no one pushes the pedestrian button. That makes the Glebe button redundant. It’d be great if T&ES would remove the button and its associated post entirely. Removing the post would leave us with only one post smack-dab in the middle of the trail, instead of two. (The Potomac Ave. post is much more annoying, but it seems less likely that they’d move that one.)

I reported all this through click.call.connect. Will update if I hear back.

[GovernorSilver]

@CaseyKane50 126602 wrote:

The Alexandria City Police department representative was asked about this incident at the BPAC meeting on Monday. He said that he could not find a report on it. He did ask for more information, so if you have any further details, you might want to call the Alexandria Police Department at (703) 746-4444.

The injured cyclist was surrounded by a circle of concerned citizens attending to her. At least 5, with at least one other person off to the side on the phone, and the sounds of approaching sirens (presumably, an ambulance) in the distance.

Thus, I too am skeptical about the claim that he couldn’t find a report.

[CaseyKane50]

@Emm 126603 wrote:

How do they not have a report? Police (multiple cars if I remember correctly), a firetruck and EMS were there, I am 100% sure of that since I saw them all. Do we have contact info for this specific officer? I can probably email him a good estimate on time and date since my Strava was running. The accident likely occurred between 6 and 6:20 since I biked by the spot around 6:20 according to strava and it appeared to have happened recently.

The police department’s representative to BPAC is out of town, so I called the police department. Here is what I found out.

Two officers were dispatched to the scene at 6:10 pm. The last officer to leave the scene filed a state accident report FR300. When I called the records department I was told that the accident report is only available to the victims.

I then called and left a voicemail message for the officer to call me back. I was told he doesn’t have to speak to me. i will let you know if I hear anything. I will also follow up with the police representative when he gets back in town.

By the way, the criteria for filing a report is there must be serious injury or property damage greater than $1,500.

[Emm]

@CaseyKane50 126642 wrote:

The police department’s representative to BPAC is out of town, so I called the police department. Here is what I found out.

Two officers were dispatched to the scene at 6:10 pm. The last officer to leave the scene filed a state accident report FR300. When I called the records department I was told that the accident report is only available to the victims.

I then called and left a voicemail message for the officer to call me back. I was told he doesn’t have to speak to me. i will let you know if I hear anything. I will also follow up with the police representative when he gets back in town.

By the way, the criteria for filing a report is there must be serious injury or property damage greater than $1,500.

Thank you! I’m happy to see I got the time generally correct. But I’m really sad (although not surprised) to hear that this accident met that criteria

[Steve O]

@CaseyKane50 126642 wrote:

By the way, the criteria for filing a report is there must be serious injury or property damage greater than $1,500.

At one of the Arlington BAC meetings, this was discussed. If you are involved in a crash and you request a report, it must be taken, even if neither of the above criteria are met. Keep this in mind and do not allow an officer to tell you otherwise. You may need that report.

[dasgeh]

@Steve O 126649 wrote:

At one of the Arlington BAC meetings, this was discussed. If you are involved in a crash and you request a report, it must be taken, even if neither of the above criteria are met. Keep this in mind and do not allow an officer to tell you otherwise. You may need that report.

Steve O correctly stated the policy IN ARLINGTON. I have no idea what the policy is in Alexandria.

[KLizotte]

@Steve O 126649 wrote:

At one of the Arlington BAC meetings, this was discussed. If you are involved in a crash and you request a report, it must be taken, even if neither of the above criteria are met. Keep this in mind and do not allow an officer to tell you otherwise. You may need that report.

You will also need a police report if you eventually end up filing a claim against the other person’s insurance company according to Bruce Deming, the bicycle lawyer.

[bobco85]

@komorebi 126611 wrote:

First, there’s an arrow on top of the Potomac Ave. button box, to help indicate which signal is controlled by the button. Unfortunately, the arrow points the wrong way. The arrow points west, even though the pedestrian signal is east.

I fixed this on my ride this evening. I was curious and found that with a little elbow grease the arrow could be rotated to point in the correct direction (this may also explain why it may have been facing the wrong way before).

[peterw_diy]

@bobco85 126670 wrote:

I fixed this on my ride this evening. I was curious and found that with a little elbow grease the arrow could be rotated to point in the correct direction (this may also explain why it may have been facing the wrong way before).

And why the box closer to Glebe lacks an arrow.

City staff still plan to install signage to clarify the setup.

Also police say the late September juvenile bike crash was not car-related. The motorist who stopped was just trying to assist. Whew.

[consularrider]

Just a few examples of what I have to deal with riding to Trukhaniv Island via the Moskovs’kyi Bridge. There five of these light pole/stairwell combos (think of a pole in the middle of the start of the 14th St bridge on the DC end next to the stairs going down to Ohio Dr).

[ATTACH=CONFIG]9883[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]9884[/ATTACH]

Then there are four of these cable housings the last of which includes a small step and a tire shredding metal plate edge.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]9885[/ATTACH]

[komorebi]

@bobco85 126670 wrote:

I fixed this on my ride this evening. I was curious and found that with a little elbow grease the arrow could be rotated to point in the correct direction (this may also explain why it may have been facing the wrong way before).

Huh. I didn’t even think to try that. Neither did City staff, apparently. Their response indicated that they were waiting for a new shipment of arrows to arrive.

Separately, City staff confirmed what peterw_diy already reported, that they’re still planning to install pedestrian signs. They also said that they’re going to keep the Glebe button and post, because the button gives out an audible signal that helps visually impaired people cross the intersection. Finally, they agreed that the placement of the posts is suboptimal, but they said that the work was done by a private contractor 3 years ago and they don’t have the equipment or resources to make the changes.

Also, props to City staff for responsiveness. I put in a request late in the evening and had a response in my inbox by 7:30 the next morning.

[CaseyKane50]

@Emm 126644 wrote:

Thank you! I’m happy to see I got the time generally correct. But I’m really sad (although not surprised) to hear that this accident met that criteria

Heard back from the police representative today. The responding police officer is currently on military leave, but gave this account to the police representative.

The accident you referenced was the cyclist’s fault and she was cited. She was riding in the pedestrian crosswalk and tried to make it across the intersection after the traffic lights turned green for the vehicles. The vehicle on the far outside started going when she came from the left side. He could not see her and she shot across in front of his vehicle against the walk sign.

[Steve O]

@CaseyKane50 127000 wrote:

Heard back from the police representative today. The responding police officer is currently on military leave, but gave this account to the police representative.

The accident you referenced was the cyclist’s fault and she was cited. She was riding in the pedestrian crosswalk and tried to make it across the intersection after the traffic lights turned green for the vehicles. The vehicle on the far outside started going when she came from the left side. He could not see her and she shot across in front of his vehicle against the walk sign.

I must admit that I am skeptical of this description, particularly the “shot across” part. I would be quite interested to learn if the cyclist had a chance to tell her version of events.
Those of you who ride here regularly, do cyclists sometimes try to cross that late in the cycle? Or does this seem unusual?

[Author]

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