And your point is?

This is Washington DC, people run the occasional light. Bikes run the occasional light. Pedestrians cross against the occasional light. People shoot each other, on average, about once per day. People kill each other, on average, about twice per week.

by metronic on Oct 26, 2009 5:56 pm • link • report

The pedestrian should not have been in the roadway. He was clearly impeding traffic, as evidenced by the fact that someone had to break to avoid a collision. We need to regulate and license pedestrians!
/Adam and Mark/

by SJE on Oct 26, 2009 5:57 pm • link • report

Metronic: Adam and Mark are very quick to notice scofflaw cyclists and buses. Admittedly, they occur. They do not appear to notice the far more frequent and dangerous behaviors of area drivers which account for the majority of road injuries.

by SJE on Oct 26, 2009 6:01 pm • link • report

Because bad behavior by other drivers completely excuses bad behavior by Metro drivers amirite?

by J.D. Hammond on Oct 26, 2009 6:18 pm • link • report

Reminds me on Saturday, at Connecticut and Calvert saw a car with NJ plates run the right turn light (to go north on Conn.) light. Though to the driver's credit, she stopped first, checked to make sure the pedestrians had cleared the crosswalk, and then ran the light. She immediately got pulled over by a cop who was standing around the corner.

by Mike B. on Oct 26, 2009 6:44 pm • link • report

Must just be Northwest that gets traffic enforcement. Only traffic enforcement I've ever seen MPD run in Southeast is the occasional portable photo radar setup on northbound Kenilworth.

by Froggie on Oct 26, 2009 7:01 pm • link • report

how about not driving when the light is green? This morning, I'm in front of union station at the intersection on my bike. the light turns green. I wait for the two cars in front of me to start moving. no dice. I look closer: both are texting. count to three. both texting. guy behind me leans on his horn, driver looks up and guns it, squealing his tires. The guy to the left hears the car, and starts moving.

conclusion: cell phone jammers in all cars.

by JTS on Oct 26, 2009 7:41 pm • link • report

Go stand by the back entrance of the zoo where drivers come off of Beach Dr onto Harvard. I've lost count of how many have run that light late at night because it is so long (the pedestrian light starts above 70) and doesn't have a sensor for the drivers sitting at the light.

The other intersection I don't understand is why so long is given for a driver to head south at 17th & U. There is only one block leading to this intersection from the north yet it has green for 30+ seconds.

by Rob on Oct 26, 2009 7:43 pm • link • report

On the flip side, the protected green arrow for making the left from inbound Suitland Pkwy to Firth Stirling is about 4 seconds. If you're lucky, you can get two cars through. I've been flashed by the red light camera there because I was stuck in the middle and had to wait for the light to change red in order to finish my turn.

by Froggie on Oct 26, 2009 7:56 pm • link • report

"how about not driving when the light is green? This morning, I'm in front of union station at the intersection on my bike. the light turns green. I wait for the two cars in front of me to start moving. no dice. I look closer: both are texting. count to three. both texting. guy behind me leans on his horn, driver looks up and guns it, squealing his tires. The guy to the left hears the car, and starts moving."

They didn't happen to be posting to GGW, did they? :)

by Lance on Oct 26, 2009 9:01 pm • link • report

I was in a taxi the other day that did the same. If I wasn't already so busy trying to get the window open to get some fresh air in to combat the smell from a dirty ashtray, I'd have said something to him. Actually, if it hadn't looked like the car (a "Cartier" edition, believe it or not), had probably clocked in excess of a 1 million miles, I wouldn't thought it futile to even try to say something. What on earth does the Taxi Commission spend its time doing ... when we have taxi drivers putting passengers at risk by the way they drive and doing so in cars that should have been taken off the street decades ago. Last summer I noted to a taxi driver in Paris that his Mercedes taxi seemed 'so new' (and 'expensive' and 'clean') I thought. He looked at me with a 'so, what's your point ... ?' Which made me think how we really don't do a good job regulating our taxis in this town. And what an embarrassment it is for us when foreigners come here and get driven around by drivers and cars that would be better suited to a banana republic third world country, than to the capital of the 'free world'. I say 'let's start cracking down on the taxis' ... They run a red light, take their license away. Give it to someone worthy of having the priviledge a taxi license embues ... and the taxi fares with it.

by Lance on Oct 26, 2009 9:10 pm • link • report

News Flash, David:

You can stand at just about any signalized intersection anywhere in the United States and see the same thing every day. This is not a phenomena that is exclusive to Washington DC.

I honked twice today at red light runners in Salisbury Maryland.

by Sand Box John on Oct 26, 2009 10:47 pm • link • report

Breaking News from the Glass Enclosed Nerve Center:

WTOP is number one in cumes (cumulative audience) in part because they do serious traffic reports every ten minutes (on the eights) and cater to motorists.

They make their money in drive time and a heckuva lot more motorists are listening to Lisa Baden and Bob Marbourg than are pedestrians and bicyclists.

And the cardinal rule in radio is always to tell your audience that they are just fine and it's the other guy who is screwing up the world. If it works in talk radio, it must also work - to some extent - in all-news.

by Mike on Oct 27, 2009 12:07 am • link • report

I thought this was a great idea of a post, but since no address was given for your observations I guess it was not completely serious and it was not sent to WTOP. It should have been!

by Jazzy on Oct 27, 2009 7:59 am • link • report

All - while it is no surprise that motorist occasionally run a red light or pass through stop signs, it's still unacceptable! This complacency alarms me.

by Richard on Oct 27, 2009 8:00 am • link • report

Complacency is right.

Drivers, please explain the urgency of running a red light in order to catch up to everyone stopped at the next light. Seriously people, your cars are 3000 pounds.

Please, DC, install more red-light cameras.

by wd on Oct 27, 2009 8:22 am • link • report

I'm shocked - shocked! - that DC has cars that run red lights.

Next you'll tell me that we have pedestrians that jaywalk, cyclists that are idiots, politicians that lie, and government employees that are corrupt.

by Fritz on Oct 27, 2009 9:41 am • link • report

No one's yet explained to me why bad behavior on the part of motorists is in any way supposed to excuse Metrobus drivers executing dangerous traffic maneuvers and endangering the public when 30-80 lives per bus already depend on their competence.

by J.D. Hammond on Oct 27, 2009 10:11 am • link • report

It doesn't excuse it. It's just that our radio reporters keep harping on every little bus infraction, even standing at a corner and doing a live report watching a bus approaching the intersection... it's rolling... it's rolling... it's getting close to the stop sign... it's NOT STOPPING... it's continuing to the bus stop... yes folks, live from WTOP radio, I just saw a bus not stop! OMG!

by David Alpert on Oct 27, 2009 10:18 am • link • report

@wd I doubt drivers would have any more insight, than anybody else, into the motivation of those who break driving laws and endanger the safety of people just to save 0-15 seconds each time. I drive to work and other places and I've always been puzzled by it. Everyboby I've talked to about it, who all drive on a regular basis, are just as puzzled. We have speculated as to those drivers' motivation, but really I think you'd have to flag them down and ask them directly to really figure it out.

by Mario on Oct 27, 2009 10:18 am • link • report

In my 15 years living in DC, I've noticed more and more pedestrians and bikes in this city. Transportation is changing and drivers need to realize that they are the minority on some streets. Participate in your local ANC meetings and urge your council to mandate bike lanes, sidewalk/curb bulb outs and more metro/bus and new street cars! We are a metropolitan city and much more European than any other US city. Cars are not necessary here!

by dcshaw on Oct 27, 2009 10:21 am • link • report

So, um, David, with this implication that criticism of Metrobus drivers is inherently unfair, are you trying to imply that the contributors to sites like Moving Momentarily and UnsuckDCMetro are hypocritical fantasists rather than people who actually want the transit system to work better and more competently?

by J.D. Hammond on Oct 27, 2009 10:58 am • link • report

J.D.: Those sites don't purport to be general news outlets that cover all subjects in an objective way.

by David Alpert on Oct 27, 2009 11:09 am • link • report

dcshaw has the right idea. also, if we all realize that we have to share the road with other people, i think we'd be better off. drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, bus drivers and riders are all people. treat them as such.

i also found it interesting that the suburb where i grew up outside Detroit has been removing stop signs as speed control devices. they have found that if cars aren't forced to stop every 500ft they just cruise at a leisurely 20-30mph rather than gunning it up to 40 after every stop. people are realizing that removing traffic controls makes things safer as people don't want to get hit. and yes, i realize that some of these things are necessary, Rhode Island Ave would have people going freeway speeds without some lights.

by dano on Oct 27, 2009 11:22 am • link • report

David: does GGW claim to be such?

by J.D. Hammond on Oct 27, 2009 11:34 am • link • report

1. The vast majority of people who listen to WTOP (especially in the morning and evening) do so in their cars. The fact that they report from the perspective shared by the bulk of their listeners is neither surprising nor newsworthy.

2. The fact that many drivers violate traffic laws without getting caught no more justifies bus drivers, cyclists or pedestrians doing the same than the near ubiquitousness of jaywalking justifies drivers running red lights.

@wd: Can I assume you think those new red light cameras should also ticket cyclists and jaywalkers? If not, why? The law is the law and enforcement should be evenhanded.

by Jacob on Oct 27, 2009 12:38 pm • link • report

J.D. Hammond - the people inside a bus will likely be unharmed should their bus ram a car or anything else. Just to clarify that. (The reasons I only occasionally feel unsafe inside a Metrobus are fear of an unstable passenger and fear of tipping because we are rounding a curve too fast. I am not sure if the tipping fear is even justified. Probably not.)

I still wish David would send this letter to WTOP.

dcshaw is correct: every year, there are more and more people cycling thank goodness. While I don't think I would ever go so far as to say cars are unnecessary, it's indisputable that transportation is changing.

by Jazzy on Oct 27, 2009 5:00 pm • link • report

@wd: Can I assume you think those new red light cameras should also ticket cyclists and jaywalkers? If not, why? The law is the law and enforcement should be evenhanded.

Sure, if you wanna license me, whatever. Nevermind that the Idaho stop is safer for cyclists (according to 1 or 2 studies) But the important thing is, I don't weigh 3000 pounds. It's a qualitative difference.

by wd on Oct 27, 2009 8:43 pm • link • report