Anonymous wrote:I'm literally hitting my head against the wall. First of all, her family is a family of doctors - don't you think ONE of them has notified the insurance company of the event? Second, don't you think ONE of them will think to pay the next premium? Third, there is usually a 30 day grace period by law. Last, it's really nobody's business.

Between this and the person in the political thread who intended to vote in BOTH the democratic and republican primaries, and had NO CLUE that wasn't allowed.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You're right -- we don't need a traffic light there just because one driver made a mistake. We need a traffic light there because it's a dangerous, badly-designed intersection on a road whose design is inappropriate for the area it goes through. Drivers are humans. Humans make mistakes. We all know this. So let's design and operate our roads so that, when humans make mistakes, they don't die.

By that logic, we should have no road with a speed limit above 25mph. After all, a collision at a high speed is more likely to result in a fatality.

This section of River Road is a straight, divided highway with large medians, shoulders, and clear visibility. There are also no sidewalks full of pedestrians, nor houses or businesses with driveways exiting directly onto the road. MD SHA has studied this intersection more than once, and concluded a traffic light is unnecessary. There has been no fatal crash at this intersection in more than 30 years, if not longer.

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Anonymous wrote:Back to the traffic light, why not consider a light like the one in front of Tilden Middle School on Old Georgetown Road. The majority of the time, it just blinks yellow. But during school drop off and pick up, it is a usable light to allow cars to easily get into and out of the school. Unfortunately, it wouldn't have helped here since this happened at night...

Whitman's principal can address this in an instant. There is (or used to be) a gate on Whitman property that connects the service road to Whitman's back entrance. Simply close that gate during school hours, and no one will make the turn since it's useless then.

The crash occurred at around 7 pm on a Saturday.

Exactly a time when we don't need a traffic light there. The main concern I see is inexperienced high school drivers in a rush to get to and from school during the week.

This accident was caused by a tragic mistake, but we don't need a traffic light just because one experienced driver made a mistake.

You're right -- we don't need a traffic light there just because one driver made a mistake. We need a traffic light there because it's a dangerous, badly-designed intersection on a road whose design is inappropriate for the area it goes through. Drivers are humans. Humans make mistakes. We all know this. So let's design and operate our roads so that, when humans make mistakes, they don't die.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the traffic light, why not consider a light like the one in front of Tilden Middle School on Old Georgetown Road. The majority of the time, it just blinks yellow. But during school drop off and pick up, it is a usable light to allow cars to easily get into and out of the school. Unfortunately, it wouldn't have helped here since this happened at night...

Whitman's principal can address this in an instant. There is (or used to be) a gate on Whitman property that connects the service road to Whitman's back entrance. Simply close that gate during school hours, and no one will make the turn since it's useless then.

The crash occurred at around 7 pm on a Saturday.

Exactly a time when we don't need a traffic light there. The main concern I see is inexperienced high school drivers in a rush to get to and from school during the week.

This accident was caused by a tragic mistake, but we don't need a traffic light just because one experienced driver made a mistake.

Anonymous wrote:

Exactly a time when we don't need a traffic light there. The main concern I see is inexperienced high school drivers in a rush to get to and from school during the week.

This accident was caused by a tragic mistake, but we don't need a traffic light just because one experienced driver made a mistake.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the traffic light, why not consider a light like the one in front of Tilden Middle School on Old Georgetown Road. The majority of the time, it just blinks yellow. But during school drop off and pick up, it is a usable light to allow cars to easily get into and out of the school. Unfortunately, it wouldn't have helped here since this happened at night...

Whitman's principal can address this in an instant. There is (or used to be) a gate on Whitman property that connects the service road to Whitman's back entrance. Simply close that gate during school hours, and no one will make the turn since it's useless then.

The crash occurred at around 7 pm on a Saturday.

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Anonymous wrote:Latest update from Principal.

Dear Whitman Community, I am thrilled to convey that Congressman Van Hollen’s office has assured me that they are 100% behind the effort to get a traffic signal installed at the River Road/Pyle Road intersection. In a conference call with Congressman’s Van Hollen’s Office today, we were told that no additional emails or phone calls are needed. They are fully convinced and are aggressively putting steps into motion.

Interesting, since Van Hollen is a member of Congress and the Federal government has no authority of River Road. MD SHA does, as it's a state road.

I saw a note from Bill Frick, who IS a member of Bethesda's _state_ delegation in Annapolis, that he's working with MD SHA on it. That makes a lot more sense.

Sometimes a US Senator is able to prod state governments in ways state reps are not.

He's not a senator yet...

But I'm sure he knows how to organize the state reps. And of course Maryland wants to get its federal highway funding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latest update from Principal.

Dear Whitman Community, I am thrilled to convey that Congressman Van Hollen’s office has assured me that they are 100% behind the effort to get a traffic signal installed at the River Road/Pyle Road intersection. In a conference call with Congressman’s Van Hollen’s Office today, we were told that no additional emails or phone calls are needed. They are fully convinced and are aggressively putting steps into motion.

Interesting, since Van Hollen is a member of Congress and the Federal government has no authority of River Road. MD SHA does, as it's a state road.

I saw a note from Bill Frick, who IS a member of Bethesda's _state_ delegation in Annapolis, that he's working with MD SHA on it. That makes a lot more sense.

Sometimes a US Senator is able to prod state governments in ways state reps are not.

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Anonymous wrote:If there was a reckless driver, he needs to be held accountable. That's all.

Which driver was reckless, in your opinion?

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Anonymous wrote:The ignorance and obsessive questioning about insurance here is astounding.

Yep, I just posted about this...

Why? It's a legit issue. It's not like we're ONLY commenting on money -- I have expressed more than once sorrow for this poor girl.

Because my guess, is that a bunch of you are thinking the 'evil insurance company will screw her because....greed'

It's not YOUR issue. She has close family in-state. It's theirs. If you are concerned about money, donate to the fund.

I actually find this to be a fairly interesting line of inquiry that extends well beyond this very unfortunate circumstance. If the health insurance policyholder is deceased, what provisions exist for continuation of coverage for the policyholder's dependents? If anything productive can come from threads like this, maybe it's that someone can learn something that would prevent a financial calamity on top of what would be a truly devastating event.

Call your insurance company and ask. Done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latest update from Principal.

Dear Whitman Community, I am thrilled to convey that Congressman Van Hollen’s office has assured me that they are 100% behind the effort to get a traffic signal installed at the River Road/Pyle Road intersection. In a conference call with Congressman’s Van Hollen’s Office today, we were told that no additional emails or phone calls are needed. They are fully convinced and are aggressively putting steps into motion.

Interesting, since Van Hollen is a member of Congress and the Federal government has no authority of River Road. MD SHA does, as it's a state road.

I saw a note from Bill Frick, who IS a member of Bethesda's _state_ delegation in Annapolis, that he's working with MD SHA on it. That makes a lot more sense.

Anonymous wrote:If there was a reckless driver, he needs to be held accountable. That's all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ignorance and obsessive questioning about insurance here is astounding.

Yep, I just posted about this...

Why? It's a legit issue. It's not like we're ONLY commenting on money -- I have expressed more than once sorrow for this poor girl.

Because my guess, is that a bunch of you are thinking the 'evil insurance company will screw her because....greed'

It's not YOUR issue. She has close family in-state. It's theirs. If you are concerned about money, donate to the fund.

Give me a break. None of this is OUR issue. I mean none of us was there. So why have people been talking about this for dozens of pages and speculating re what happened and whose fault it was? Fault IS our issue but insurance isn't??