[Brendan von Buckingham]

Yellow is advisory. White is mandatory. Only NPS would put up a yellow/white ambiguous hybrid sign. The correct answer is yellow. The sign should advise of the presence of bicycles.

Unless, by putting “bicycles on Beach Dr” they’re saying that it’s mandatory for bicycles to be on Beach Drive instead of the side trail. Somehow I don’t think that’s what NPS means.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

The damage to the front end of that back car is noteworthy. What speed do you think he was going at impact for that to happen? Speed limit is 25 mph.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I’m with SotD. If you want to give an eyewitness account, make sure to stash your bike in some bushes, ditch your helmet and explain the wardrobe by saying you were out for a run or a walk.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

If it looks like a bicycle and sounds like a bicycle, then it’s a bicycle. The more the better. However, due to the fundamental difference of an e-bike (they have an artificial power source) they should have governors or speedometers so that the rider, who’s one-step removed from being intimate with the speed, has certainty about their speed.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@dbb 121782 wrote:

According to my reading of the DC Code (caveat – I am not an attorney) it would seem the USPP officer was as wrong on the law as he was on geography.

§ 50-2201.28. Right-of-way at crosswalks.

(a) The driver of a vehicle shall stop and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross the roadway within any marked crosswalk, or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, when the pedestrian is upon the lane, or within one lane approaching the lane, on which the vehicle is traveling or onto which it is turning.

(a-1) Whenever a vehicle is stopped at a marked crosswalk at an unsignalized intersection, a vehicle approaching the crosswalk in an adjacent lane or from behind the stopped vehicle shall stop and give the right-of-way to ensure the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists before passing the stopped vehicle.

etc.

Here’s why the NPS cop made this interpretation and why he was wrong.

Nearby to the crosswalk where the incident happened (GW off ramp at Memorial Drive) is the bike trail crossing of GWP at about 5 o’clock on Memorial Circle at the west end of Memorial Bridge. This crossing has a yellow sign for bicycles that says “Bikes must dismount to cross.” So although it’s a right-of-way crossing and cars must yield to the crosswalk, cyclists are “supposed to” dismount before they cross. The officer was probably thinking of this sign.

This “Bikes must dismount” sign is also posted on the downriver side of Memorial Bridge where the temporary ramps are installed. The sign says that the trail narrows and “Bikes must dismount.” Similar sign under Memorial Bridge where the trail essentially narrows to a single file width.

Here’s the thing though. Yellow signs are warning signs, not regulatory signs. A yellow sign might advise you that the road will be slippery when wet, or there are deer nearby or you should take a turn at 35 mph, but yellow signs are advisory. White signs are regulatory and must be obeyed (speed limits, one way, stop here on red, stay to the right)

White signs must be obeyed, yellow signs do not.

But this NPS cop forgot that. He remembered the dismount sign was somewhere around there, but forget it’s yellow. Par for the course frankly in the JMSU* (TM) world of the GW Parkway. Don’t get me started about them mixing yield signs and stop signs at the same intersection in contradiction to FHWA design standards.

*-Just Make Sh:t Up

[Brendan von Buckingham]

This just in: I am the metaphor that explains the allure of international terrorism. Or, if I exploded on impact, car drivers would take me a lot more seriously.

Details at eleven.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

The faster we go slow the faster we go fast.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Gotta admit, with the Metro problems and perfect weather this morning, my smugness level reached 9.9

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I’m generally in favor of protests like this that display the literal effect of following laws that are out-dated, inefficient or petty. It’s within Abraham Lincoln’s school of thought: “The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.” Drivers yelling at me to follow the rules, when I actually am following the rules, is a regular enough occurrence that I’m convinced a large majority of drivers just don’t know the bike regulations. This sort of demonstration shows them the regulations. It also exhibits how the whole traffic system benefits from our “scofflaw” but safe behavior when idahoing a stop.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

That bugs me. Cyclists aren’t required to have speedometers and many don’t have speedometers. Not many cyclists know the difference between 13 mph and 18 mph. Seems a little unfair to me.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

LEED. If it’s your MBA dissertation you’re cum laude. If it’s your engineering dissertation you flunk out. LEED works exactly the way it’s intended.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Excercise is good for you and just for you, so inhaler. Racing is about beating other people because you’re better, so inhaler not so much. If the claim is “I can’t race without my inhaler,” than not racing is an option.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@GovernorSilver 120564 wrote:

Is this the route?

https://goo.gl/maps/Fy0Zl

Yes. After Jefferson the trail/walk paving has a really rooted and bumpy section. I don’t take this way every time, just when circumstances make it my better choice.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I’m like a twig on a stream.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@dbb 120511 wrote:

This evening there was a noticeable absence of one police cruiser and 9 (of 13) cones.

Success, possibly ephemeral!

Traffic control like this is like trying to control and handful of water by squeezing tighter. And it’s goofy. As an in-bound cyclist that just gives me more encouragement to go straight off the bridge, through the west driveway and right past the front of the Memorial. It cuts the whole corner and is a whole lot shorter anyway. As an out-bound cyclist it encourages me to take a traffic lane the whole way from 15th Street (which isn’t so bad actually). I suspect the USPP would have problems with those two too.

[Author]

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