‘Slow Streets’ is stupid

[Anonymous]

People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

[Anonymous]

I agree. Smash the cars of people who violate traffic laws and put us all at risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

I live off a slow street and love it! I feel much better letting the kids bike in the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

I live off a slow street and love it! I feel much better letting the kids bike in the street.

How much safer would you feel if the penalty for passing one of your kids with <3 feet was immediate smashing of the car?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

I live off a slow street and love it! I feel much better letting the kids bike in the street.

Glad it’s working for you. The one by me is also a street with a DPR rec center and playground on it. Out of curiosity I have loosely tracked the cars while sitting at the playground with my kids on multiple different days. All but 1 car had Maryland plates and zero of the cars gave a crap about the speed limit and “no through traffic” signs at either end of the block. If we want streets to be kid and pedestrian friendly I agree with previous folks who mention enforcement (and I don’t mean cameras), or actually blocking off all traffic and making them fully open. I realize that’s a whole other conversation but my point is that the “slow streets” initiative is just a way for Bowser to check a box without doing anything meaningful or effective.

[Anonymous]

This is what DC does. Pile on ever more laws. Enforce nothing. Laws are almost symbolic in DC.

[Anonymous]

I’ve lived in DC for 20 years. I’ve never been stopped by a cop for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

Sounds like it's the drivers who are stupid (and dangerous), not the slow streets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

I live off a slow street and love it! I feel much better letting the kids bike in the street.

Glad it’s working for you. The one by me is also a street with a DPR rec center and playground on it. Out of curiosity I have loosely tracked the cars while sitting at the playground with my kids on multiple different days. All but 1 car had Maryland plates and zero of the cars gave a crap about the speed limit and “no through traffic” signs at either end of the block. If we want streets to be kid and pedestrian friendly I agree with previous folks who mention enforcement (and I don’t mean cameras), or actually blocking off all traffic and making them fully open. I realize that’s a whole other conversation but my point is that the “slow streets” initiative is just a way for Bowser to check a box without doing anything meaningful or effective.

We have so many of these slow street signs on the Hill that they are virtually meaningless - and if you actually adhered to them you couldn't drive anywhere (they don't account for one-way streets, etc.). If you want to slow the traffic, add speed bumps - we keep begging for them on our block and they instead put them in the block before and after ours, so the cars speed on our stretch of the road. I would like a full street of rumblestrips around every DPR center.

[Anonymous]

I live near H Street and there are now a bunch of slow streets near us. I like it in theory (anything pedestrian focuses versus car focused is a step in the right direction), but they are not enforced at all. I use them when I go running -- it's nice to be able to run in the street instead of the sidewalk so I don't have to worry so much about wearing a mask when I run. I still encounter cars (including MANY that are obviously using the streets as through streets) but the speed does seem to be a little lower since the cars have to navigate around the barriers at the end of each block. Also fewer people coasting through stop signs. But I've also seen the barriers lying down or pushed out of the way many times. I'm guessing sometimes it's moving trucks or similar that have to move them to deliver. It's still annoying how often they aren't in place.

When I'm out with my kid, we stay on the sidewalk. I don't trust drivers to pay enough attention to make the street safe for a kid under the age of 10, unfortunately. I've seen too many really sketchy driving behaviors in the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is what DC does. Pile on ever more laws. Enforce nothing. Laws are almost symbolic in DC.

Politicians don’t get to put out press releases for enforcing existing laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

I live off a slow street and love it! I feel much better letting the kids bike in the street.

Glad it’s working for you. The one by me is also a street with a DPR rec center and playground on it. Out of curiosity I have loosely tracked the cars while sitting at the playground with my kids on multiple different days. All but 1 car had Maryland plates and zero of the cars gave a crap about the speed limit and “no through traffic” signs at either end of the block. If we want streets to be kid and pedestrian friendly I agree with previous folks who mention enforcement (and I don’t mean cameras), or actually blocking off all traffic and making them fully open. I realize that’s a whole other conversation but my point is that the “slow streets” initiative is just a way for Bowser to check a box without doing anything meaningful or effective.

You're only going to see people who ignore it, though. My usual drive home from daycare includes a one block stretch on a no through traffic street by a DC rec center, but since the sign went up I go a different way. You're never going to see me abiding by the law though, because you're watching the street I'm avoiding. I'm also a Maryland FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

I live off a slow street and love it! I feel much better letting the kids bike in the street.

Glad it’s working for you. The one by me is also a street with a DPR rec center and playground on it. Out of curiosity I have loosely tracked the cars while sitting at the playground with my kids on multiple different days. All but 1 car had Maryland plates and zero of the cars gave a crap about the speed limit and “no through traffic” signs at either end of the block. If we want streets to be kid and pedestrian friendly I agree with previous folks who mention enforcement (and I don’t mean cameras), or actually blocking off all traffic and making them fully open. I realize that’s a whole other conversation but my point is that the “slow streets” initiative is just a way for Bowser to check a box without doing anything meaningful or effective.

We have so many of these slow street signs on the Hill that they are virtually meaningless - and if you actually adhered to them you couldn't drive anywhere (they don't account for one-way streets, etc.). If you want to slow the traffic, add speed bumps - we keep begging for them on our block and they instead put them in the block before and after ours, so the cars speed on our stretch of the road. I would like a full street of rumblestrips around every DPR center.

I also live on the Hill and don't totally agree with this. Some of the streets they picked were really smart. Namely -- 12th Street from Lincoln Park to Florida. I've completely stopped driving on that street now. And because it hooks up with Lincoln Park, it's also become our favorite way to get from H Street to the park on foot or bike. It feels noticeably calmer and I feel like there's always lot of people out walking and biking, and tons of kids. I've incorporated it into my running routes as well because it's so nice now.

So I think they just need to see what's working and what's not, and maybe put up more permanent barriers on streets like 12th while dropping the designation on other streets where people don't follow it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

Hi! I live by a crazy intersection (7 stop signs) near the Maryland border and after infinity complaints we had a cop come sit there and ticket everyone who blew through the stop signs. I wanted to order him a freaking pizza, we just sat at the window and cheered. It helped for a week or so but I'm hoping they will consider putting in a light or traffic camera after making forty billion dollars off that one 8 hour shift.

They made one of the streets of that intersection into a slow street after that, which doesn't completely solve the stop sign issue but has helped some Marylanders plan an alternate route, which helps with the insanely reckless driving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in my neighborhood don’t even slow down for stop signs. Has anyone in DC ever been stopped by a cop for a traffic violation? Of any kind? Maybe the city government should focus on enforcing existing laws before inventing new ones

I live off a slow street and love it! I feel much better letting the kids bike in the street.

Glad it’s working for you. The one by me is also a street with a DPR rec center and playground on it. Out of curiosity I have loosely tracked the cars while sitting at the playground with my kids on multiple different days. All but 1 car had Maryland plates and zero of the cars gave a crap about the speed limit and “no through traffic” signs at either end of the block. If we want streets to be kid and pedestrian friendly I agree with previous folks who mention enforcement (and I don’t mean cameras), or actually blocking off all traffic and making them fully open. I realize that’s a whole other conversation but my point is that the “slow streets” initiative is just a way for Bowser to check a box without doing anything meaningful or effective.

7 stop sign PP here and I strongly suspect we are neighbors.