PSA: it is 100% ok to miss your exit or turn when driving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with you in theory, of course. I do understand why people unfamiliar with driving in and around DC panic and do crazy maneuvers to make the exit, though. If you miss your exit on the GW Parkway near the Memorial Bridge, for example, you don't get a chance to turn around for quite some time. Driving on the Rock Creek Parkway can be similarly fraught. I don't know how you all navigated the tangled up roads by the Kennedy Center or the Memorial Drive/GW Parkway zig-zags without GPS.

+1000

The signage in this area is absolutely wretched and it is way too easy to not see the correct lane until the last minute, especially if the roads are unfamiliar.
As for KCen area--I'm not even sure GPS helps. You really just need to learn by doing or have a driving guru to show you. I used to choose to drive through Dupont Circle at off hours just so I could learn to navigate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good reminder OP, agree! Sure there are exceptions, like PP pointed out, but really you are typically talking about 5-8 minutes of looping back around--not worth an accident or your safety (or that of others).

Nope, there really aren’t any exceptions. You missed the exit/turn, you take the next one. You don’t endanger everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good reminder OP, agree! Sure there are exceptions, like PP pointed out, but really you are typically talking about 5-8 minutes of looping back around--not worth an accident or your safety (or that of others).

Nope, there really aren’t any exceptions. You missed the exit/turn, you take the next one. You don’t endanger everyone else.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:True story: I was driving on 395 once and witnessed a young woman in the right lane BACKING UP because she had missed her exit.

She had a phone in her left hand which she was talking into as she craned her neck to see behind her.

I have no idea if she actually survived.

Yes teaching my teen now go ahead miss your exit be late arrive ALIVE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good reminder OP, agree! Sure there are exceptions, like PP pointed out, but really you are typically talking about 5-8 minutes of looping back around--not worth an accident or your safety (or that of others).

Nope, there really aren’t any exceptions. You missed the exit/turn, you take the next one. You don’t endanger everyone else.

I agree that people shouldn't back up when the miss an exit, even when it's going to waste 20 minutes.

Where I differ from a lot of my fellow locals is that I will "let people in" when I see they are trying to change lanes; especially around exits but, really, anytime. The DC area has some very crowded roads and a lot of the exits/turns are bonkers. It's totally confusing if you are relatively new to the area or are encountering a twilight zone like the Kennedy Center or the GW Parkway for the first time. Be kind, folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with you in theory, of course. I do understand why people unfamiliar with driving in and around DC panic and do crazy maneuvers to make the exit, though. If you miss your exit on the GW Parkway near the Memorial Bridge, for example, you don't get a chance to turn around for quite some time. Driving on the Rock Creek Parkway can be similarly fraught. I don't know how you all navigated the tangled up roads by the Kennedy Center or the Memorial Drive/GW Parkway zig-zags without GPS.

Circa the mid-90s, my then-boyfriend (visiting from out of state) tried to drive into Clarendon to meet me. He took eastbound Rt. 50, missed the exit and kept going over the Roosevelt Bridge. From there, he looped off onto Rock Creek Parkway, intending some sort of cloverleaf or “go up and turn around” maneuver. Except it was rush hour, and RCP is one-way…

He finally bailed out at Mass Ave and spent a good hour fighting his way back down to a bridge, any bridge, that would get him the hell back to Virginia. The poor man wound up marrying me — but it’s to his credit that he didn’t insist we pick up and move to someplace with more comprehensible traffic patterns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asian Woman Driver????
Racist much?!

DWA

[Anonymous]

The best thing I learned pre-gps and still do is to stay calm, scan signs but focus primarily on the roads, and MAINTAIN A CONSISTENT SPEED.

You need to be predictable to other drivers above all else. And arrive alive as pp said.

[Anonymous]

I watched the videos posted on page one and I see that same crap almost every day. Anytime I'm on the Interstate there's some idiot that does it. Every time I'm on 355 I see it. I literally saw someone drive the wrong direction on 355 to get to a business driveway they missed. And I mean DROVE the wrong way. They didn't even bother backing up. They went to the next driveway and then turned around in the parking lot and drove against traffic on 355 to go to the previous driveway instead of just making two U turns at lights that would have cost them maybe 5 minutes of time, they did something that was incredibly dangerous. Why are people so bad at driving? I agree with the OP's PSA, I'm so sick of people doing these dangerous and illegal things when they can just go to the next exit/light/whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good reminder OP, agree! Sure there are exceptions, like PP pointed out, but really you are typically talking about 5-8 minutes of looping back around--not worth an accident or your safety (or that of others).

Nope, there really aren’t any exceptions. You missed the exit/turn, you take the next one. You don’t endanger everyone else.

I agree there are no exceptions to this. You go to the next exit. I now live in PA and on the turnpike the next exit is usually 20 miles down the road. Sometimes it is closer if you are near a big city. It absolutely sucks when you miss the exit. But it also teaches you a lesson and is a wakeup call that you need to plan better and pay more attention to driving. I have missed the turnpike exit and now make sure that I check the map before I get in the car and know what exit I need just in case my navigation cuts out at exactly the wrong moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:True story: I was driving on 395 once and witnessed a young woman in the right lane BACKING UP because she had missed her exit.

She had a phone in her left hand which she was talking into as she craned her neck to see behind her.

I have no idea if she actually survived.

When I was a kid, my family was on a road trip to visit relatives in Pennsylvania and got into an accident because of something just like this -- as my dad was exiting the highway, the car in front of us suddenly started backing down the ramp because the driver had gotten off at the wrong exit. So we collided. No serious injuries, but it was pretty alarming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:True story: I was driving on 395 once and witnessed a young woman in the right lane BACKING UP because she had missed her exit.

She had a phone in her left hand which she was talking into as she craned her neck to see behind her.

I have no idea if she actually survived.

I’ve never seen someone do this IN THE TRAFFIC LANE, only on the shoulder. Good lord. Here’s another one:

OMG, I had to watch that through my fingers with eyes covered. WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with you in theory, of course. I do understand why people unfamiliar with driving in and around DC panic and do crazy maneuvers to make the exit, though. If you miss your exit on the GW Parkway near the Memorial Bridge, for example, you don't get a chance to turn around for quite some time. Driving on the Rock Creek Parkway can be similarly fraught. I don't know how you all navigated the tangled up roads by the Kennedy Center or the Memorial Drive/GW Parkway zig-zags without GPS.

+1000

The signage in this area is absolutely wretched and it is way too easy to not see the correct lane until the last minute, especially if the roads are unfamiliar.
As for KCen area--I'm not even sure GPS helps. You really just need to learn by doing or have a driving guru to show you. I used to choose to drive through Dupont Circle at off hours just so I could learn to navigate it.

I saw movie, The American President, before moving to DC. Had flashbacks to it the first time I drove through Dupont Circle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good reminder OP, agree! Sure there are exceptions, like PP pointed out, but really you are typically talking about 5-8 minutes of looping back around--not worth an accident or your safety (or that of others).

Nope, there really aren’t any exceptions. You missed the exit/turn, you take the next one. You don’t endanger everyone else.

+1

Jeez, folks... "Exceptions" to my estimate of only 5-8 minutes of "wasted time" for a missed exit, e.g. PP states there is greater distance between exits on GW Parkway. There is no exception the rule that you do not go backwards on the freeway!

[Anonymous]

I had this exact experience. They redid the exits on 66 and didn't realize it too late. Ended going to the next exit and looping. back. A pain, but better then trying to cut through 2 lanes of traffic.

BTW when is 66 ever going to be done!