DDOT list of intersections with most crashes in 2017

[jrenaut]

I think the most disappointing numbers here are the two spots on 14th near U – Wallach Place and T. When I first started bike commuting in 2012, 14th St was a s**tshow. Then they slowly started connecting the disconnected bike lanes, and pretty soon it was noticeably nicer to ride there. During rush hour, drivers actually expected cyclists to be there and were generally accommodating. By “accommodating” I mean “mostly coming close to obeying traffic laws”. But Trader Joe’s f’ed it all up. It’s pretty much white knuckles everywhere south of Florida now.

And 1st and L NE – there’s a [expletive deleted] 2 way protected cycletrack at that intersection. If there are still drivers hitting cyclists there, it’s clear that 1st needs to be permanently closed to cars.

[Judd]

@jrenaut 175457 wrote:

I think the most disappointing numbers here are the two spots on 14th near U – Wallach Place and T. When I first started bike commuting in 2012, 14th St was a s**tshow. Then they slowly started connecting the disconnected bike lanes, and pretty soon it was noticeably nicer to ride there. During rush hour, drivers actually expected cyclists to be there and were generally accommodating. By “accommodating” I mean “mostly coming close to obeying traffic laws”. But Trader Joe’s f’ed it all up. It’s pretty much white knuckles everywhere south of Florida now.

I’ve decided that it’s safer to just take a lane on 14th since the multiple cops that I see just sitting in their cars on 14th can’t be bothered to do any traffic enforcement.

@jrenaut 175457 wrote:

And 1st and L NE – there’s a [expletive deleted] 2 way protected cycletrack at that intersection. If there are still drivers hitting cyclists there, it’s clear that 1st needs to be permanently closed to cars.

If I had to hazard a total guess, I would say that crashes here are most likely cars turning left from 1st onto L when they have the red arrow or cyclists disobeying the ped signal and proceeding through the intersection when the left turn arrow is green from 1st on to L for cars.

It would be nice if this data came with descriptive information of the incidents to that the public could better advocate for safety improvements.

[LhasaCM]

@jrenaut 175457 wrote:

I think the most disappointing numbers here are the two spots on 14th near U – Wallach Place and T. When I first started bike commuting in 2012, 14th St was a s**tshow. Then they slowly started connecting the disconnected bike lanes, and pretty soon it was noticeably nicer to ride there. During rush hour, drivers actually expected cyclists to be there and were generally accommodating. By “accommodating” I mean “mostly coming close to obeying traffic laws”. But Trader Joe’s f’ed it all up. It’s pretty much white knuckles everywhere south of Florida now.

And 1st and L NE – there’s a [expletive deleted] 2 way protected cycletrack at that intersection. If there are still drivers hitting cyclists there, it’s clear that 1st needs to be permanently closed to cars.

@Judd 175459 wrote:

If I had to hazard a total guess, I would say that crashes here are most likely cars turning left from 1st onto L when they have the red arrow or cyclists disobeying the ped signal and proceeding through the intersection when the left turn arrow is green from 1st on to L for cars.[/quote]

I was a witness to at least one of the bicycle-car crashes there (assuming they counted it) back in November 2015. It was a car on L Street westbound, wanting to turn right onto 1st. They were 3rd or 4th in line at a red light, and decided to pull around the stopped cars waiting at the red light to make their turn. I managed to swerve out of the guy’s way but heard the cyclist behind me yell. Thankfully, the guy managed to stop in time to just barely hit the bike. And I mean barely. The cyclist was upset with herself that she hadn’t reported an earlier crash where everything seemed OK (only to later discover her rim was bent), so to her credit had resolved to wait for the police to show up. And stayed straddling her bike with the front wheel touching the car’s bumper until they arrived (which annoyed lots of drivers…and a few cyclists, sadly).

The cop who took my statement was not bike-friendly – he peppered me with questions about how slick the road was (since it had rained the day before?), how I knew the cyclist didn’t run a red light, if I knew her and how safe she normally biked (never met her before), and plenty of questions presuming the innocence of the car driver. The other responding officer was more professional, and since the driver admitted what he did, went ahead and issued some sort of citation (so I was told).

The timeline in my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I believe they added the “no turn on red” signage shortly thereafter.

From my experience on 1st street – I think the cars actually are dodgier at K than L. For whatever reason, folks waiting to turn left onto K (heading east) zone out and ignore the green arrow, then try to tear through on the red arrow. And right turners are far more aggressive and egregious (again, in my experience).

[Judd]

@LhasaCM 175460 wrote:

From my experience on 1st street – I think the cars actually are dodgier at K than L. For whatever reason, folks waiting to turn left onto K (heading east) zone out and ignore the green arrow, then try to tear through on the red arrow. And right turners are far more aggressive and egregious (again, in my experience).

1st and K one week ago: https://twitter.com/JRogers202/status/966321804519321601

[LhasaCM]

@Judd 175463 wrote:

1st and K one week ago: https://twitter.com/JRogers202/status/966321804519321601

Yep. Sadly it happens with far too much regularity.

[Author]

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