3 killed in crash on River Road

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can search his name here if you want to see all the past traffic incidents.

http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch/

One incident for speeding on 495 and one incident that was dismissed... Really that is it... Sorry but he was the victim.

You're looking at the wrong record:

In April 2015 at 6:45 pm, going 85 in a 55 mph zone.
Also charged with changing lanes when unsafe and reckless driving (wanton and willful disregard for safety of persons and property

In Sept. 2015, negligent driving, failure to drive vehicle on right half of roadway when required, failure to obey properly placed traffic control device, and following vehicle closer than reasonable and prudent.

In Oct. 2013, driver spinning wheels,

In Aug. 2013, negligent driving.

In June 2014, possession of marijuana.

Just to clarify, the first in your list should actually say "April 2013". The Sept. 2015 tickets were dismissed. The Aug. 2013 is the same as the April 2013 violation. He appeared in both traffic and criminal courts. So, a more accurate list would be:

In April 2013 at 6:45 pm, going 85 in a 55 mph zone.
Also charged with changing lanes when unsafe and reckless driving (wanton and willful disregard for safety of persons and property

In Sept. 2015, negligent driving, failure to drive vehicle on right half of roadway when required, failure to obey properly placed traffic control device, and following vehicle closer than reasonable and prudent. All dismissed in court.

In Oct. 2013, driver spinning wheels,

In June 2014, possession of marijuana.

How old is this person?

Reports indicate that he is 20

He is 20, driving for 4 years... 1 speeding ticket, 1 spinning wheels.

I guess you think negligent driving is not a big deal. I've been driving for nearly 30 years and have never plead guilty to negligent driving. He likely needed the lawyer to get the charges knocked down to keep his license.
Can't believe an insurance company would cover him and if they did I can't imagine it would be cheap.

You also forgot the speeding ticket in Arlington.

You do a lot of imagining that is for sure.

Is there a point to this comment?

It seems like the lawyer for the me driver is already defending his case on here?

How could he still have a non-suspended drivers license after a reckless driving charge and his other infractions? And legalities aside, WTF were the parents thinking not to have taken his keys after these arrests?

[Anonymous]

Electric car owner here. Wanted to chime in and give facts here that are being misreported. All electric cars like Leaf, Tesla, Volt (has gas back up engine, not a hybrid like a Prius) actually have faster 0-30mph acceleration that most has cars, even a BMW! Little known fact. Makes it really fun to drive in the city as they are super zippy under 30. I can beat any BMW in my Leaf going from red light to red light. Another fact, the 2016 Volt has 0-30 of 2.2 seconds which beats the average BMW of 2.7 and even the fast and expensive Tesla at 2.3 seconds.

I can say many speculations from what I know about the above, but Jeff has asked that we stop speculating and I think that's the wisest thing to do until we know more information.

[Anonymous]

I had posted that WTOP today confirmed that the Potomac BMW driver was speeding on River Rd. Why was this deleted?

[Anonymous]

Posted on Facebook but the Bannockburn Civic Association:

The deaths of three people at the River/Pyle intersection is actually a scandal. The local community in the vicinity of Whitman High School has long been highly aware of how dangerous this unregulated intersection (known locally as the Braeburn intersection) is. In 2008, the community petitioned the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) to install a traffic light to improve traffic regulation. The petition was maintained online, and in short order, 528 local residents had signed it. The effort had the support of Whitman Principal Goodwin and local politicians among others.

The 2008-09 effort was simply the latest in periodic community efforts every five years or so prior to then to press the state to install a light. The Braeburn intersection serves as a back entrance to the Whitman High School parking lot, and is used in the morning and evening by generally students (often very new drivers) heading eastbound on River Road, who then turn left toward Whitman, crossing on coming traffic on River that is often proceeding over the speed limit up and over the crest of a hill unaware of cross traffic. There have been a number of accidents, including injuries, at the intersection over the years. It has been for decades a deadly accident waiting to happen. Now it has.

In a Channel 7 (WJLA) story from the site, the SHA spokesperson at the time said, "We can not and do not make decisions based
on petitions or emotion." (The story aired about May 20, 2008, but is no longer on WJLA's web site apparently). The First Amendment, of course, guarantees us the right to petition our government, but SHA arrogantly brags about ignoring our petitions. SHA, in effect, declared itself to be unaccountable to the people.

Then, throughout 2008 and 2009, the community tried to obtain copies of SHA's traffic studies at the intersection, without success for an extended time as SHA stonewalled, contending that its studies were exempt from the Maryland Public Information Act. We actually litigated through Maryland's administrative-law process to press for release of these studies so we could assess for ourselves the basis on which SHA was failing to act. A file of documents detailing that litigation is linked here:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3ssLhDvmtXPQmJKcWFMdzN5N0E&usp=sharing

In this file, document 3.3 is an index to the other documents.

Eventually, after denying us the studies, SHA relented through an act of what it described as "discretion". When we analyzed the studies, we matched the count of accidents at the intersection with those reported in publicly available Montgomery County accident reports, and found several were missing in SHA's count (on which it partially based its conclusion that a traffic light was unecessary). Our analysis is reported in document 3.2 in the file linked in the prior paragraph.

This scandal is the back story to yesterday's tragedy.

Richard Boltuck
Vice President, Bannockburn Civic Association

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had posted that WTOP today confirmed that the Potomac BMW driver was speeding on River Rd. Why was this deleted?

Read the thread. Jeff said to stop speculating and discussing the BMW drivers record. Also, WTOP does not say he was speeding last night.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:I've asked before and I'll ask one more time. Let's let the investigators do the investigation. A lot of you are crossing over to character assassination based on nothing more than the model of car. I drive a BMW that is very similar to the one in this crash, so maybe I am a bit sensitive. But, I don't think it is right or fair to jump to conclusions when so little is known at this point.

Thank you Jeff.

[Anonymous]

This petition to get a light installed at River & Pyle Rds. has been started by a student at Whitman - please read and sign if you are so inclined to do so.

https://www.change.org/p/maryland-state-highway-administration-install-traffic-signal-at-intersection-of-river-rd-braeburn-pkwy-pyle-rd-near-whitman-hs?recruiter=12999874&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

[Anonymous]

Thank you, 19:57. The case is now well-documented to demand the immediate installation of a traffic light.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I had posted that WTOP today confirmed that the Potomac BMW driver was speeding on River Rd. Why was this deleted?

The WTOP article does not say that he was speeding. Also, if your post is deleted, don't repost the same thing in the same thread. If you must ask -- and if you have read this thread you shouldn't have to ask -- do it in Website Feedback.

I don't have all night to keep returning to this thread and my next visit will probably be to lock the thread. Sorry to those of you who would like to discuss the important issue of getting a stoplight at that intersection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you, 19:57. The case is now well-documented to demand the immediate installation of a traffic light.

+1
Appalling. Hopefully this news ripples across the State and local groups audit the claims of the SHA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you, 19:57. The case is now well-documented to demand the immediate installation of a traffic light.

+1
Appalling. Hopefully this news ripples across the State and local groups audit the claims of the SHA.

Indeed! The fact that no light has been installed to date is appalling. Let's all please try to get this done as some sort of positive out of all of this sadness and tragedy. SHA, are you listening?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you, 19:57. The case is now well-documented to demand the immediate installation of a traffic light.

+1
Appalling. Hopefully this news ripples across the State and local groups audit the claims of the SHA.

A light would certainly be beneficial at this intersection. That said, on innumerable occasions I have seen drivers run through red signals on River Road at high speed.

[Anonymous]

I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that the light at Royal Dominion Dr. (Holton-Arms) was installed after a bad accident in the late 80s/early 90s. It's too bad that residents have to fight so much and it takes a deadly accident to get action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that the light at Royal Dominion Dr. (Holton-Arms) was installed after a bad accident in the late 80s/early 90s. It's too bad that residents have to fight so much and it takes a deadly accident to get action.

+1,000,000
I'd love to know exactly who is making these irresponsible decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you, 19:57. The case is now well-documented to demand the immediate installation of a traffic light.

+1
Appalling. Hopefully this news ripples across the State and local groups audit the claims of the SHA.

A light would certainly be beneficial at this intersection. That said, on innumerable occasions I have seen drivers run through red signals on River Road at high speed.

Cameras then. They pay for themselves.