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Metropolitan DC Local Politics
The pedestrian killed in 2019 was killed by a driver. So was the pedestrian killed in 2022. The pedestrians and bicyclists injured at that crossing before 2019 were also injured by drivers. |
And then they installed the traffic light that drivers habitually obey and cyclists habitually ignore. Cyclists are the leading threat to pedestrian safety at that intersection now. Times change. Stop living in the past. |
Imagine getting up at 5:33 am to complain about bicyclists being the main threat to pedestrians. In my experience as a driver, there is no such thing as drivers habitually obeying any traffic signal. Right on red without stopping, left on red, just plain driving through a red light. That goes extra for the kind of traffic signal that's at the Tuckerman trail crossing. I have seen drivers go right through it, both when I was driving, and when I riding on the trail. There's also the issue of who's a bigger threat to a pedestrian, me on a bike (150 pounds total, going no faster than 15 mph max), or me in a car (4500 pounds, going 35 mph or faster). That's basic physics. Your obsessive bicycle hatred is weird to begin with, it's not founded on the facts (drivers killed roughly 7,400 pedestrians in the US last year), and frankly it endangers your neighbors when they're on a bicycle. For all I know, you think that's a good thing. |
If you feel it's so dangerous to bike on a particular stretch of road don't bike there. I cannot believe how many cyclists can't figure out that sometimes something is simply too dangerous to undertake and the entire world cannot spend millions of dollars to make you feel more comfortable (although it won't make all of you feel comfortable because bikers are like Goldilocks) given the fact that a)you are the minority, b) you don't wish to follow the rules of the road (or you think they should be different and special for you and c) most of you are cycling recreationally. GTF over yourselves!!!! |
Funny that you complain about millions of dollars spent on installing infrastructure so that people can bike safely and not the trillions of dollars of subsidies that have allowed vehicles to set the planet on a path to catastrophic climate change while killing millions of people in the process. In a more sane world, anyone with psychological issues such as those you have demonstrated here would not be allowed behind the wheel of a car. |
It just takes time. People will start to use it. |
Drivers habitually obey all traffic rules, including speed limits? Really? Please tell me where you this happens as I’ve gone a lifetime without witnessing such a miraculous event. |
If it does get used the most likely scenario is that it will just move users from the Trolley Trail. |
Eh, no. If I feel it's so dangerous to bike on a particular stretch of road, I will push for improvements so that it's safe to bike there. Just like, if I feel it's so dangerous to walk on a particular stretch of road, or cross the road on foot on that stretch, I will push for improvements so that it's safe to walk or cross on foot there. With a few exceptions (interstate highways), roads are for everyone and should be safe and usable for everyone, car or no car. As for recreational vs. transportation bicycling, also eh. When I'm driving, I don't get out of the car at red lights to ask the drivers ahead of me what they're on the road for. For all I know, they're driving to the gym to get on an exercise bike or walk on a treadmill. |
That would be a good thing. It would make the Trolley Trail more comfortable for walkers and runners. |
And maybe some of those improvements will be possible, practical, executed thoughtfully and supported by the majority of the community. Unfortunately that is not the case with the bike lanes in their current configuration on OGR. Are you used to getting everything you desire? How old are you? |
The bike lanes on OGR are self-evidently possible, because they're there. They're practical; I've used them on a bicycle, driven next to them in a car, and walked next to them to the bus stop, on foot. They're executed thoughtfully; I know this as a bicyclist, a driver, a pedestrian, and an informed citizen aware that they are based on a thorough study done by/for MDSHA. Are they supported by the majority of the community? I have no idea, and neither do you. All we know is that there are some people who are very loudly complaining about them, and some other people are pushing back on the very loud complaining. Also, who is "the community"? |
Imagine being so privileged to (incorrectly) assume that everyone’s day starts in the morning, but that kind of narcissism seems to be a pre-requisite for being a bike lane advocate. I also love that your solution to pedestrian safety is running people over with a bike instead of with a car. It’s better for people not to get run over at all. Everyone deserves to get from one place to another without getting run over by anyone. I have never seen a car run the red light at the trolley trail crossing on Tuckerman. I have seen cyclists do it. Cyclists have passed me on that part of Tuckerman. (The speed limit is still too high there given the pedestrian and cyclist traffic so I go slower than 35.) |
Good for you, I guess? I have. Yes, everyone deserves to get from one place to another without getting run over by anyone. I completely agree. That best way to do that is to build safe bike lanes and safe sidewalks. |
And for people to yield to pedestrians instead of treating them like traffic ones. |