Missed connection

[lordofthemark]

@scoot 191784 wrote:

Summary / TLDR:

The vast majority of RTOR drivers at King & Beauregard either don’t stop at all or else they block the crosswalk while stopped. It is true that most drivers cannot see sufficiently down King Street to identify a safe RTOR opportunity from behind the stop line. In this situation, most drivers opt to block the crosswalk while scanning traffic rather than wait for a green.

The only practical way to improve this problem in the short term would seem to be No Turn on Red. Even then, I would expect poor compliance with that signage unless heavily enforced.

Glad to see you confirmed my impressions (I do cross N to S, BTW, and often see peds doing so)

My suggestions

1. Implement No Right Turn on Red, with requisite enforcement

2. Enforce not blocking the crosswalk – that is a driver culture change we need even at places where no right turn on red will never be implemented.

3. Get the discourse to reflect that ALL categories of road users – drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and scooter users, engage in violations of the law, sometimes dangerous violations. Stop singling out particular classes of users (such as scooters or cyclists) as scofflaws, and using that to make unwarranted policy decisions. If there is a problem with our dockless program, explore ways to fix it before we consider ending it.

[baiskeli]

You: a Capitol Police officer riding a bike, running a red to cross Independence Avenue. Apparently not responding to an emergency or anything like that, just running a red because you can.

Me: SMH

[trailrunner]

In my short ride from Crystal City to the Pentagon this afternoon, I almost got right-hooked three times. Twice by the same car – once while picking up sluggers, and then a mile later while they were rushing to get on the HOV lanes with their full load of passengers. The other time was by a car turning into a parking lot. They passed me, then slowed down and started drifting right. I was going to go around to the left, but it seemed like they were going to let me slide to their right, so I (very cautiously) held my line in the lane. But they kept slowly turning until they were in front of me and I was blocked.

[dbb]

Yo: Cyclist on a CaBi in front of the Jefferson, on the highway side of the guardrail, heading across the river with traffic

Me: Heading up the ramp to the 14th St Bridge in front of the Jefferson, hollering that you were getting on the interstate.

You: Suggesting that I should “shut the F up”

While it appeared you didn’t die on the bridge, I hope that luck continued to your destination. Good luck with your decision processes, and the rest of your life.

[dkel]

My stopping at the stop sign on my bike is not your big opportunity to pass me by whizzing right through the stop in your car, on the wrong side of the road!

[Oldtowner]

You: Two fully-kitted up drop bar e-bikes blowing past us evening commuters on the MVT.

Me: So that just happened.

[creadinger]

Huge shoutout to the 4 drivers who almost hit me on my commute today…

1) Lady trying to pull out from a residential parking lot with bad sight lines. You almost pulled out in front of me, but I could see the situation happening in front of me and if you didn’t stop, I could have. You actually seemed apologetic and remorseful. Thanks for admitting your mistake and seeing us as humans.

2) Lady who follows the letter of the law at stop signs, but definitely not the intent…. you pulled up, you stopped, you went. You forgot to yield the ROW though and just blew on through. Love that. You’re hopeless. Also, get off the goddamn phone!

3) Dude at a backed up traffic light who after it turned red decided to blow through anyway as I was making a left. You looked awesome trying to stare me down by looking up at me from your little sedan. Whoops, while you’re trying to intimidate me by pushing your chest against the window don’t hit the pedestrians in the crosswalk across the intersection. Moron.

4) Lady coming out of the Fish Market completely oblivious to the fact that you just pulled out across a busy sidewalk in front of 2 cyclists. Not malicious, but totally clueless.

Fortunately this was just a potentially really bad day, and not the norm….

[Emm]

@creadinger 192118 wrote:

4) Lady coming out of the Fish Market completely oblivious to the fact that you just pulled out across a busy sidewalk in front of 2 cyclists. Not malicious, but totally clueless.

Either you were right behind me today, or this happened more than once this morning 😡 I have to bike to slow along this area to avoid clueless drivers every morning and evening.

[bentbike33]

@creadinger 192118 wrote:

4) Lady coming out of the Fish Market completely oblivious to the fact that you just pulled out across a busy sidewalk in front of 2 cyclists. Not malicious, but totally clueless.

@Emm 192146 wrote:

Either you were right behind me today, or this happened more than once this morning 😡 I have to bike to slow along this area to avoid clueless drivers every morning and evening.

Two Words: Case Bridge. It carries you above the fray. There are curb cuts and protected bike lanes all over the Banneker Circle area at the end of the L’Enfant Promenade, and recently a curb cut was added between the Park Police HQ parking lot and the I-395 ramp road making the (curbless) loop-around from the 14th St. Bridge even shorter. And if I can learn to navigate the Case Bridge switchback cleanly on my contraption, any cyclist can do it. See this ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/2536761700.

[Emm]

@bentbike33 192147 wrote:

Two Words: Case Bridge. It carries you above the fray. There are curb cuts and protected bike lanes all over the Banneker Circle area at the end of the L’Enfant Promenade, and recently a curb cut was added between the Park Police HQ parking lot and the I-395 ramp road making the (curbless) loop-around from the 14th St. Bridge even shorter. And if I can learn to navigate the Case Bridge switchback cleanly on my contraption, any cyclist can do it. See this ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/2536761700.

Yea…I did that route for a year or two. It adds a few extra minutes onto the commute, and I’m always running late. It might be worth it to try it again.

[creadinger]

@Emm 192146 wrote:

Either you were right behind me today, or this happened more than once this morning I have to bike to slow along this area to avoid clueless drivers every morning and evening.

All of my interactions were yesterday! It’s an epidemic! Do you take the PBL through the Wharf area? I always take the right lane going southbound, and the left lane going northbound to the Fish Market. Since the PBL and sidewalk deadend for the 2nd phase anyway, I feel pretty justified in doing this. Occasionally there’s an aggressive pass every now and then but no cross traffic…. until the market.

@bentbike33 192147 wrote:

Two Words: Case Bridge. It carries you above the fray. There are curb cuts and protected bike lanes all over the Banneker Circle area at the end of the L’Enfant Promenade, and recently a curb cut was added between the Park Police HQ parking lot and the I-395 ramp road making the (curbless) loop-around from the 14th St. Bridge even shorter. And if I can learn to navigate the Case Bridge switchback cleanly on my contraption, any cyclist can do it. See this ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/2536761700.

Yeah, I also did that for a year or two as well when the Wharf was a complete mess. I wasn’t a fan. When you’re heading to the Douglass Bridge it’s just too indirect. Besides, why should I add a mile and several minutes to my commute when it’s the drivers who are idiots. On the plus side, of the 4 morons I had interactions with yesterday, the fish market one was the least surprising.

[ursus]

@creadinger 192151 wrote:

On the plus side, of the 4 morons I had interactions with yesterday, the fish market one was the least surprising.

It’s more of a surprise when it does not happen.

On the plus side, they finally decided about a week ago that the only way to fix the hole near the northern end of the northbound PBL was to repave a section. Just throwing stuff into the hole was not working at all.

[ReneeYvonne]

I tried this route home yesterday and that switchback was kinda crazy. Even though I knew it was coming up I was still shocked at how challenging it was to navigate it. It was nice to know there is an alternative though.

[Steve O]

@ReneeYvonne 192153 wrote:

I tried this route home yesterday and that switchback was kinda crazy. Even though I knew it was coming up I was still shocked at how challenging it was to navigate it. It was nice to know there is an alternative though.

With practice, as with most things, it will become easier.
What’s annoying, though, is that it is not even necessary. A straight line from the top curve to the point where the trail meets the walkway would be no more steep than the switchback (trust me, I did the math). So the whole connection could have been built with just a single 90 degree turn. D’oh.

[mstone]

@ursus 192152 wrote:

they finally decided about a week ago that the only way to fix the hole near the northern end of the northbound PBL was to repave a section. Just throwing stuff into the hole was not working at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM

[Author]

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