[mstone]

@arlcxrider 220832 wrote:

All this got started because of the two pedestrian fatalities, and the US Attorney’s inexplicable handling of the case. A double fatality hit-and-run, and no charges. So we have “magical paint” as a solution to an abject failure of effective law enforcement.

If you want people to be accountable for how they drive, you must hate freedom.

[mstone]

I’m always fascinated by the fact that drivers can plow over light poles, run through steel barriers, destroy other 4000lb hunks of metal, and yet it’s on us to do “something” to protect ourselves. Maybe provide some decent infrastructure that keeps us well away from those maniacs? (And don’t get me started on the tendency to blame it all on drunk drivers–the DOTs would much rather blame “driver error” than improve the inherent safety of infrastructure which makes every error potentially fatal.)

[mstone]

I’m not familiar with the road and it’s hard to tell scale from the picture, but is it actually marked as a bike lane? VDOT sometimes marks shoulder lines to visually narrow the road for traffic calming, without marking them as an actual bike lane (typically because they’re substandard). If that’s the case, there is no standard to argue. If it is marked as a bike lane then you might be able to argue standards (or they might just un-bikelane it as a low-effort solution).

Note that this is yet another thing for people with a windshield perspective to complain about: “that cyclist isn’t even using the bike lane that the stupid bicycle lobby took away from my wide luxurious car lane!!!!” “it isn’t a bike lane, it was because too many of you jerks were speeding.”

[mstone]

@scoot 219846 wrote:

And the detour is very hazardous as well.

For instance: Minnieville Road. From Tackett’s Mill to Fowke, at least there’s a wide sidepath and a low turn volume that is mostly residential. South of there it’s an utter disaster. 45MPH stroad with a lot of speeders AND a lot of turning traffic. With a sidewalk and poorly engineered curb cuts. Anyone considering this route would do better to bail out at Fowke, to Jenny / Rollingwood / Smoketown / Beaver Ford / trail / Chinn Park to avoid that stretch.

I think they try to avoid routes with a lot of turns and road changes. They also like off-road routes (a lot of less confident riders simply won’t do a street, even if it’s objectively better/safer) so the sidepath is attractive from that perspective. Time of day is a factor. And part if it is probably just that PWC has gotten so much worse over the past decade.

IMO it’s tanyard hill rd that will kill you on this route if you’re loaded and not knowing what you’re getting into.

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 219827 wrote:

Any other thoughts about bike route 1 would be interesting (to me, if THIS was the route they designated, it shows how few good options there are in that part of FFX)

yes, it’s grim

edit to add: of course, the massive detour around quantico to avoid the death zone that are the roads between quantico and the river is also quite the thing

[mstone]

Under an overpass is good for lightning (it’s a big metal grounded thing), just don’t lean on the pillars. Under an actual bridge is less good, you may increase your risk of getting caught in flooding unless it’s a really big bridge. Note that under an overpass is bad for tornadoes. I’ve been known to beg shelter on a porch in the boonies during a bad electrical storm. If all else fails the book says crouch (don’t lay) in a lowish (not flood-prone) spot in open ground not near metal (power lines, fences, etc). If I’m somewhere like the towpath I’m most worried about falling trees. But mostly I don’t worry about it too much–I’m much more likely to be ended by a black suv with war of 1812 plates than by lightning.

[mstone]

@accordioneur 219542 wrote:

Can someone help me understand the impact of the new Virginia law going into effect (SB 362) which, “prohibits persons riding bicycles, electric personal assistive mobility devices, electric power-assisted bicycles, or motorized skateboards or scooters two abreast from impeding the normal and reasonable movement of traffic and requires such persons to move into a single-file formation as quickly as is practicable when being overtaken from the rear by a faster-moving vehicle.” This looks (to my lay eyes) like an update to § 46.2-905, which, to my surprise, already seems to prohibit taking a lane.

The cycling community has led me to believe that it is my right to take a lane, but the Virginia Code seems to indicate that we are for the most part restricted to riding single file, glued to the side of the road. What’s the story?

§ 46.2-905 reads “except under any of the following circumstances: […] 3. When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes that make it unsafe to continue along the right curb or edge;”

SB 362 is someone’s pet peeve made into law, doesn’t really change anything. It’s a bad signal, but its practical impact is negligible.

[mstone]

@consularrider 219431 wrote:

I really like option #1, but it would require major re-education camps for those pesky drivers. Maybe shock collars for when they are speeding?

no, it just requires redesigning the roads. but since that would affect vehicle level of service metrics, it can’t be done.

[mstone]

@n18 219429 wrote:

These types of signals are a waste of money that better spent on better infrastructure. I thought HAWK Beacons are a better option, until I witnessed a car ignoring its 4 solid red lights and speeding(~35-40 MPH) while a lady and her kid were waiting to cross. They had the walk signal at the time, but luckily she looked before crossing.

yes, there’s no safe way for pedestrians to cross large high speed roads. the options are 1) slow down the cars 2) design unsafe crossings 3) get rid of the pedestrians.

[mstone]

@Brendan von Buckingham 219425 wrote:

Video would be more useful convincing transportation planners that they’ve implemented ROW crosswalks across multi-lane roads inrcorrectly.

But it won’t convince them of that because the only metrics they use are things like “how many cars can pass this spot in an hour”. Anything that slows down cars is a negative impact to the metrics. Until we manage to force them to use metrics like “do people feel safe walking here” and prioritize those metrics higher than vehicle level of service, they aren’t going to change.

[mstone]

@arlcxrider 219268 wrote:

The TR Bridge was a planning calamity not easily undone.

Just think how much easier it would be to navigate if they’d just connected up the street grids instead of building expressways to nowhere.

[mstone]

Full traffic light: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/06/07/fairfax-crash-pedestrians-injured/

More traffic lights aren’t going to fix this sort of thing, only redesigning roads to reduce conflicts and lower speeds while changing the culture to make speeding and aggressive driving unacceptable can fix this. But that’s unlikely to happen as pedestrian safety is not a priority in this country.

[mstone]

@peterw_diy 218726 wrote:

In this situation I think it’s likely that the biggest culprit IS the parks department

In that case the stupid is just painful. (In fairfax they generally blame the utility trucks.)

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 218696 wrote:

You don’t follow the police budget discourse in Alexandria, do you?

no, I’ve got my own mess in fairfax

[mstone]

@Judd 218691 wrote:

Update from the folks at Four Mile Run Conservatory on all of the nearby bridges including this one: https://www.fourmilerun.org/2022/03/bridges-of-lower-four-mile-run-updates.html

Excerpt:

The trail bridge, near the baseball and softball fields, has been closed since late Summer 2021 due to decking failure and structural damage caused by vehicular use of the bridge. The hole in the decking first appeared last spring, and subsequent analysis by structural engineers indicated the bridge is unsafe. Further engineering analysis will determine whether the existing bridge abutments are in good enough condition to allow only the span to be replaced.

I’ve heard this (that vehicles screw up the bike/ped facilities) a number of time from local authorities and I don’t understand why it’s something they can’t actually address rather than saying “oh well, your facility will be broken indefinitely because we don’t have the money to repair the preventable damage”. Like, if the police or telco or whoever tear up the trail, why don’t the costs come out of their budget?

[Author]

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