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@Sunyata 192519 wrote:

I hope you took photos and forwarded them to the appropriate folks.

Of course.

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@lordofthemark 192344 wrote:

Was it improper for the EMTs to respond that she could leave?

The officer should have taken a report if you asked him to. Not clear from your post if you asked for that or if it was offered. This was clearly an incident with injury, so it’s important that ACPD track these.

I believe the relevant Virginia Code on this is:

Quote:

§ 46.2-894. Duty of driver to stop, etc., in event of accident involving injury or death or damage to attended property; penalty.
The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident in which a person is killed or injured or in which an attended vehicle or other attended property is damaged shall immediately stop as close to the scene of the accident as possible without obstructing traffic, as provided in § 46.2-888, and report his name, address, driver’s license number, and vehicle registration number forthwith to the State Police or local law-enforcement agency, to the person struck and injured if such person appears to be capable of understanding and retaining the information, or to the driver or some other occupant of the vehicle collided with or to the custodian of other damaged property. The driver shall also render reasonable assistance to any person injured in such accident, including taking such injured person to a physician, surgeon, or hospital if it is apparent that medical treatment is necessary or is requested by the injured person.

Where, because of injuries sustained in the accident, the driver is prevented from complying with the foregoing provisions of this section, the driver shall, as soon as reasonably possible, make the required report to the State Police or local law-enforcement agency and make a reasonable effort to locate the person struck, or the driver or some other occupant of the vehicle collided with, or the custodian of the damaged property, and report to such person or persons his name, address, driver’s license number, and vehicle registration number.

Any person convicted of a violation of this section is guilty of (i) a Class 5 felony if the accident results in injury to or the death of any person, or if the accident results in more than $1000 of damage to property or (ii) a Class 1 misdemeanor if the accident results in damage of $1000 or less to property.

Sounds like the driver left before complying with the law. I don’t know whether it’s worth a call to the responding officer to point this out. As far as I know, the EMT is in no position to offer advice to anyone whether they need to stay or go for the purposes of the police reporting.

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Yesterday, there were two ACPD cruisers parked in the Quincy PBL near the auto shop just east of Glebe on the northbound side. There were no officers or activity to be seen. I doubt it was an emergency response situation as the cruisers were neatly tucked into the protected bike lane, making sure not to block the DRIVEWAY TO THE PARKING LOT OF THE AUTO SHOP. It didn’t look like they had driven over the flex posts, but instead had taken the time to back in.

And did I mention there was a parking lot they could have stopped in? If that didn’t work, there were legal parking spots on Quincy up the street, and plenty of room on 5th to park legally or not.

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@Starduster 192458 wrote:

I think, because these trails do not have to bear the weight of your average road (sustained pressure from countless cars and high tonnage trucks), they are built lighter. Much thinner gravel base/ballast (if at all), and a thinner top layer of asphalt. So it is easier for a tree root to press upward and crack it from underneath. If there is anyone here from Arlington County who knows roadbuilding, please chime in! Because some of these root heaves are on fast downhills. Unless you are running a dual suspension bike, that’s a big problem.

This is my understanding as well. It’s still cheaper to build the trails to lower standards, and maintain them more. But we have to make sure maintenance doesn’t get cut.

Arlington has a budget for this, so report issues. There’s Arlington’s 311 app, or kstalica arlingtonva.us (the “trails” address is dead)

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I thought the San Diego repo-men’s connection to bike shops was interesting….

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So sorry this happened.

At this point, this is a known danger that NPS has done nothing — not even signage — to mitigate. They should be held liable.

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@huskerdont 192176 wrote:

We’ve had this discussion before. If a driver hits you in the crosswalk when the hand has started blinking, you will be considered at fault. Which is total BS, but that’s what it is. Fine for you, but I wouldn’t recommend it to others.

The blinking signal is not acknowledged in VA law, and based on my research (last done a while ago), had never been litigated. So you take your chances – it’s not clearly legal, not clearly illegal to go on blinking red. I recently had the situation where I entered on blinking because it switched over right before I entered the intersection — I couldn’t have stopped. An officer was there, didn’t say anything, but I was already thinking about how I would make the point that there’s no other “yellow” to tell people about to enter an intersection not to, so strict enforcement doesn’t make sense.

It does seem like Fort Myer could turn red sooner with no degradation to car traffic…

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@ChristoB50 192159 wrote:

I don’t mind engineering in a bit of “triggered slow down” for rolling transports on that particular descent (ie, navigating the two 180-switchbacks) — And while not super-narrow, the path isn’t exactly wide, either (ie, like the switchback descent to Roosevelt Island; a much nicer width!) so bikes descending here mixed with pedestrians climbing safely errs on the side of slowing the rolling traffic… I do wish they had adopted a bigger radius on the 2 switchbacks — more of a “bobby pin” line vs a 180-switchback. But I’m glad they at least curved the 2 switchbacks, vs. using right-angles!

But it also uses a right angle…

Those switch backs are difficult to impossible for bikes with longer wheelbases — long tails, box bikes, bikes towing trailers. We shouldn’t make the safest infrastructure hard/impossible for family bikers to use!

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@mstone 192156 wrote:

There’s a maximum slope standard and also a standard for maximum run based on the slope. (The idea AFAIK is to limit how far/fast your mobility assist device will go if you lose control on the slope. Running into a railing sucks, but less so than flying over a curb or railing at high speed and into the street or the water.)

Have you see the ramp they’re building from the Kennedy Center? It doesn’t seem worse than what would be necessary for the Case Bridge.

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@Steve O 192149 wrote:

I think you mean to say you were the only one who had NOT fallen on the Trollheim. Lucky you; it claims everyone at some point.

Right about the first point. But I am resisting the Trollheim!

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@CaseyKane50 192115 wrote:

There is a permanently signed high water detour that will connect you to the Holmes Run Trail west of Beauregard. The detour runs north on Peagram, west on Richenbacher/Sanger (crossing Van Dorn) to a south on Beauregard.

I think Arlington should admit climate change and permanently sign high water detours for its trails.

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@Oldtowner 192120 wrote:

Separately, I was talking to a Swiss visitor who told me there has been a big problem with e-bike accidents and injuries in Switzerland. So I went to look that up and found a study saying that 17% of Swiss ebike riders have experienced a single-vehicle accident, which seems like a lot. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000145751830174X

Ebikes are here to stay, but the trails are going a little more dangerous with them.

17% of riders experiencing a single rider crash also doesn’t seem high to me. I think back to the BAC meeting when Steve O asked who in the room who rides the Trollheim had fallen on the Trollheim. I was the only person not in that category.

My working theory is that ebikes will get more of the “interested but concerned” part of the population out riding, and those folks are more risk adverse than the folks who ride today. So they will ride more safely than us crazies out there now, and safety will increase.

A study on the W&OD showed that ebikes on the trail had lower average speeds than pedal bikes.

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Update on FMR Trail under George Mason: they will need to close both sides, but they will try to only close one side at a time and sign accordingly. For now, they’ve closed the south side.

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@DrP 192049 wrote:

Judd and others had pictures (you might recall the one with all the metal pieces from SteveO, although that looks cleared up in Judd’s photos).
I only use the W&OD in winter when it is dark for commuting – I much prefer the shade calmness of 4MRT to all the crossings and people on W&OD at all other times. So, please continue to post updates here.
There are actually two trails under George Mason, one on either side of 4MRT. The signed route (if you notice the signs), when coming from Shirlington, has you first cross the stream on the sidewalk on George Mason, then turn right and go under George Mason and continue on the 4MRT along the parking lot of the apartment complex. The other option is to continue straight on the 4MRT from Shirlington, go under George Mason, then go up to George Mason, cross the water, and back to the trail through the parking lot. This one is less pleasant, but possible. Do they mention which one is closed?

Pretty sure the signed route is officially the FMR Trail. I’ll confirm.

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I’m not going to give this it’s own thread, because I doubt anyone ever bikes there (unless for stunt biking), but the Four Mile Run Trail under George Mason (you probably take the W&OD, which crosses G. Mason at grade nearby) will be closed for approximately two weeks to clear debris left by the storm.

I am curious how much debris was left to require two weeks of cleanup, if anyone grabs a picture.

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