Looking for bike accident info — Eisenhower & Mill Rd — Alexandria

[mstone]

@peterw_diy 129271 wrote:

I would not call the person operating the car an “eyewitness”. It seems all too plausible he was distracted and it was precisely his NOT watching what was around him that led to the crash. An eyewitness would be a disinterested third party

Current research suggests that all eyewitness testimony is useless, so taking any action without video is basically making stuff up.

[scorchedearth]

@mstone 129272 wrote:

Current research suggests that all eyewitness testimony is useless, so taking any action without video is basically making stuff up.

The irony of your statement above is that the APD won’t even take video footage as evidence of negligent driving.

I have a colleague who submitted video of an egregious driving violation (passing too closely) while she was riding her bike and the APD issued their usual refrain,”We can’t do anything.”

[mstone]

@scorchedearth 129274 wrote:

The irony of your statement above is that the APD won’t even take video footage as evidence of negligent driving.

I have a colleague who submitted video of an egregious driving violation (passing too closely) while she was riding her bike and the APD issued their usual refrain,”We can’t do anything.”

Oh, I’m not making an assertion about whether APD has a stupid policy, just commenting on the futility of defining a “good” eyewitness.

[scorchedearth]

@mstone 129275 wrote:

Oh, I’m not making an assertion about whether APD has a stupid policy, just commenting on the futility of defining a “good” eyewitness.

I am not trying to put words in your mouth at all. If that is how it sounded, then I apologize.

I wanted to point out how the police cannot get their stories straight.

[lordofthemark]

If reporting specific dangerous passes to APD is not working, I would suggest using Call.Click.Connect to report locations where more enforcement is needed. That is (allegedly) the basis they used for the enforcement on Union Street.

[DrP]

@scorchedearth 129266 wrote:

I find it especially interesting that the APD repeatedly tell us that they can’t enforce violations of traffic laws (3 foot passing, aggressive driving) without witnessing said infraction yet in this case, the officer took eyewitness testimony from a single eyewitness to write a ticket.

In reporting the car portion of folks driving over my lawn (http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?9641-Bad-cyclist-yards-are-not-for-riding-on&p=129337#post129337), I was told by the Arlington Co. Police officer that what the driver did was reckless driving, he could not ticket because he did not witness – it is the type of offense that needs a witness – however, a witness could go to the magistrate to swear that so-and-so was driving the vehicle and the vehicle did X. Then action could be taken against the driver. The police would help with locating the person (since we had a license plate number). Could this also be done with the 3 ft rule? If you had a way to locate the driver (license plate) and recall seeing the driver (perhaps all from a movie), then perhaps this is a way to actually have offenders fined.

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