Car running pedestrian light on W&OD crossing

[KLizotte]

Wow. Glad she was okay. I would definitely contact the police; maybe even go in person and ask a cop to have a chat with the driver. They can’t issue a citation (unless cameras picked it up) but maybe the police will realize that this driver does not have a basic understanding of driving laws and needs a visit from law enforcement for some “education.” Fingers crossed.

[hozn]

I would also call the police. Anecdotally, I have seen a few drivers run that light. Maybe because it is (kinda) new or maybe there aren’t good sight lines or they are just looking ahead to try to make the light at Sunset Hills? It’s worth waiting there to make sure the road is clear and/or the cars see you. (But definitely report that; there is no “right on red” into the gas station — that is ridiculous.)

[AFHokie]

I wouldn’t expect them to go “have a chat” with the driver, but definitely report it. Enough reports of issues at an intersection & they should step up presence (and ideally enforcement) at the location.

Still, don’t expect much; earlier this year at the intersection of Shirlington RD & S Four Mile Run Drive I had a very near miss with a silver minivan that never slowed down making a right on red onto Four Mile Run Dr while I had right of way (to include a lit cross now light) right in front of an ACPD cop sitting in his cruiser (who I’m guessing was there to catch red light runners & speeders) didn’t do squat.

[ursus]

@hozn 148578 wrote:

I would also call the police. Anecdotally, I have seen a few drivers run that light. Maybe because it is (kinda) new or maybe there aren’t good sight lines or they are just looking ahead to try to make the light at Sunset Hills? It’s worth waiting there to make sure the road is clear and/or the cars see you. (But definitely report that; there is no “right on red” into the gas station — that is ridiculous.)

Even if there were a road there where one could go right on red, a right-on-red driver must still come to a full stop and does not have the right of way over someone going straight on the green. I agree that the sight lines for the driver there are not good, but …

[ursus]

@hozn 148578 wrote:

I would also call the police. Anecdotally, I have seen a few drivers run that light. Maybe because it is (kinda) new or maybe there aren’t good sight lines or they are just looking ahead to try to make the light at Sunset Hills? It’s worth waiting there to make sure the road is clear and/or the cars see you. (But definitely report that; there is no “right on red” into the gas station — that is ridiculous.)

Even if there were a road there were one could go right on red, a right-on-red driver must still come to a full stop and does not have the right of way over someone going straight on the green. I agree that the sight liens for the driver are not good, but …

[dasgeh]

@AFHokie 148579 wrote:

Still, don’t expect much; earlier this year at the intersection of Shirlington RD & S Four Mile Run Drive I had a very near miss with a silver minivan that never slowed down making a right on red onto Four Mile Run Dr while I had right of way (to include a lit cross now light) right in front of an ACPD cop sitting in his cruiser (who I’m guessing was there to catch red light runners & speeders) didn’t do squat.

It’s probably too late, but PLEASE report these sorts of incidents. Especially if you can get the number of the car. Police will have a chat with an officer who isn’t doing his job.

[jabberwocky]

I used to cross that intersection as part of my daily commute, and I can definitely say that cars running the red is pretty frequent there. Its one of those that I always make sure cars are gonna stop no matter what the crossing signal says (and even then you have occasional close calls).

[Steve O]

I took a look at street view. I do not see how anyone could interpret this as not running a red light. Amazing.
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[NormVA]

We called the Fairfax County none emergency number. They sent an officer to our house. Basically, the officer said that there was nothing that he could do because he did not witness the driver running the red light. They did not fill out a report or record the tag or witness information. The officer said that Barbara did the right thing by not confronting the driver — he seemed very much attuned to confrontations leading to violence and referred to the recent situation where a driver fired a gun at another driver on the beltway during a road-rage incident.

[Author]

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