You're Welcome?

One letter writer to the Post - a Laura Gore of Crownsville -  would like to thank DDOT for making her commute miserable. 

Thank you, District of Columbia, for all the new bike lanes! My commute down L Street NW is now 15 minutes longer, and many cyclists still refuse to obey traffic laws such as stop signs and red lights.

That's odd. Not only does it not jibe with my experience - I find the road much faster now (by bike) - but it also doesn't match with DDOT's predicted change in conditions. DDOT predicted that in some cases things would get a little bit worse and in others a little bit better - for drivers, but mostly speeds and flow would be the same. If their predictions are way off, then that is being under-reported to DDOT. But I doubt it, considering the results of the 15th Street cycle-track on traffic speeds and flow. Perhaps you have some data you took before and after that shows this 15 minute increase in travel times. Does it even take 15 minutes to make the whole trip? Google predicts you can drive the whole road in 8 minutes. 15 minutes more means you're doing it only slightly faster than walking speed. Sorry, but that's called congestion and it's not the cycle-track's fault. 

For cyclist, of course, things are much better and since the whole point was to make a more complete street that serves everyone, this appears to be a success. But yes, at times you - a non-tax paying visitor to our town - will sometimes have to sacrifice seconds from your day so that we can build the kind of city we want. If you don't like being in your car, there are other options (like not living a 50 minute drive from downtown), and DDOT would love to help you utilize one of them.

And thanks to how the District manages the traffic lights, my car each night never goes farther than about 200 feet to the next red light — crawling through the District at a snail’s pace. Each light lasts about a minute, so that adds another 20 minutes to my commute, because I hit about 20 of them.

OK, so then how would getting the bike lanes removed help you? Wouldn't you just get stuck at the same lights? Also, where is this magical place where traffic lights are all timed so that cars never have to stop at rush hour? You'd think that in such a place, everyone would travel by unicorn anyway.

Also, thank you so much for the $125 ticket I received for doing 36 mph in a 25 mph zone. 

We can't take the credit. You have yourself to thank for that one.

With all the millions the District is raking in from red-light and speed cameras, could it please hire an expert who knows how to manage traffic efficiently? And while you are at it, can someone repave the roads?

We'd like our roads paved too. But much of that money is tied to federal funding. You know the federal government right? Enormous. Dysfunctional drama queen that bounces from crisis to crisis. Won't allow us to have a voice. Talk to them.

So let's recap. You came into our town, broke our laws, complained about our values and blamed them for your woes, and then told us how to spend our money while blaming us for policies that we don't have a say in. You're just the kind of ray of sunshine that this town is trying to attract, aren't you?

Comments

[antibozo]

Nicely done.

[7]

Love it. Your last paragraph is a classic!

[CyclingFool]

Totally agree w/ 7. Love the last paragraph. It captures perfectly what started running through my head when I saw that this letter complaining about DC was from a woman in Crownsville.

Tip to anyone living thirty miles away from their job and complaining about the time it takes to commute: Want a shorter commute? Don't live thirty miles from your job! Simple enough.

[PghSteve]

Said the letter writer from Crownsville: "and many cyclists still refuse to obey traffic laws such as stop signs and red lights."

Unlike the operators of motor vehicles, who ALWAYS come to a complete stop at stop signs, NEVER go through a red light and obey ALL traffic laws All the time (including speed limits).

[contrarian]

One of my nerdy habits is to note the duration of red lights, which is easy now that a lot of intersections have countdown timers for pedestrians.

A full minute for a red is very rare. More typical would be 30 seconds. A surprising number are in the 10-20 second range, which hardly seems worth it.

[Arlington Arogt]

Interesting that someone who works as a PR aide for a public health organization is so vociferously opposed to bike lanes:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/laura-gore/a/a7a/27a

http://www.acep.org/Content.aspx?id=22592

http://www.google.com/search?q=2121+K.+Street%2C+NW%2C+Suite+325+Washington%2C+DC+20037&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS437US437&oq=2121+K.+Street%2C+NW%2C+Suite+325+Washington%2C+DC+20037&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[freewheel]

Love her hypocrisy... "cyclists break the law! BTW, when I was speeding the other day, that ticket was way too expensive."

Masterful response as always by wash_cycle

[aCyclistIntheSuburbs]

I read the letter in the WaPo today, and it gave me a smile - "cyclists are scofflaws, and my speeding ticket (36 in a 25 zone - wow!) was too high"

[MM]

Courtland Milloy, is that you??

[Greenbelt]

Crownsville is way the bleep out in central Anne Arundel County! To complain about commute times when you live more than 30 miles away is beyond lame. Like everybody in between just needs to move out of your way or something? Right.

[Michael H.]

Did anyone post a reply on the W. Post site? I would except my browser is acting up and not letting me see that page.

[dynaryder]

Wash,you should copy and paste your entire reply to the Wapo comments section. Or e-mail it to the writer.

[contrarian]

So here's what I wonder: The Post seems to have an unusual fondness for these types of letters, and they're always just really dumb.

So I wonder: is there someone in the letters department who thinks this way? Or do they just get so many letters kvetching about traffic that they feel obligated to run one occasionally -- and this is one of the good ones?

[antibozo]

contrarian, i think you left out the third possibility (and the one i prefer): someone in the letters department runs them as demonstrations of how *not* to be, and trusts that there are readers with the capacity for critical thought.

[Greenbelt]

They run idiotic or confrontation provoking letters to troll for more hits on their website mostly.

[Jacques]

I think Greenbelt nailed it. This drives plenty of traffic.

[antibozo]

Yeah, well, cynicism is easy.

[just another rider]

"printing" a Letter to the Editor online is easy and almost free. They printed it on paper, too.

[8]

Two things:
1: I don't think fighting snarky with snarky wins any people to the bike movement regardless of merit.

2: I do the opposite commute of this lady everyday and drive L St from Georgetown to 50 in max 15 minutes. Coming home is much worse, not because of bike lanes (there aren't any), but because traffic is bad at 7 everywhere. That's not DC's fault.