Street Smarts Spring 2010

It's again time for Street Smarts, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments twice yearly street safety initiative. In addition to an advertising blitz, and a live demonstration of how speed increases stopping distance, there is also usually a crackdown on law-breaking. Alexandria, as least, started theirs yesterday

Officers from the Department's Motor Unit will focus on King Street Metro, Braddock Road Metro, Eisenhower Avenue Metro and Van Dorn Street Metro during the morning and evening rush hours.  Officers will also concentrate on locations of high traffic and numerous crashes, such as Mount Vernon Avenue in Arlandria, Duke Street, North Van Dorn Street, Eisenhower Avenue and Edsall Road.  Officers will be issuing citations to drivers along the Mount Vernon Trail corridor in Old Town to encourage safe bicycling.

The officers will be citing pedestrians for jaywalking and bicyclists for violations of the traffic code.  They will also be writing warning and citations to drivers for:
• Failure to obey a highway sign by blocking the crosswalk,
• Failure to yield right of way to pedestrians in crosswalks,
• Making improper turns into crosswalks,
• Failure to obey "No Turn on Red" while pedestrians are present,
• Speeding and
• Running red lights and stop signs.

Really? It's the motor unit? Sounds like they're mechanics.

Anyone get ticketed yesterday?

DCist was all into the demonstration, even if they got the point wrong.

Street Smart...is once again employing shocking visuals in an effort to convince motorists, cyclists and pedestrians that driving even a little over the speed limit will cost lives this spring.

I'm sorry, why are they convincing cyclists and pedestrians that driving over the speed limit is dangerous? Just for academic purposes? Or is so I can yell to cars "Slow down..." [Because that works./sarcasm off]

The video is below the fold

Comments

[Jeff Walters]

Motor Unit = Motorcycle Cops. They're just differentiating between different units w/in the dept. (That's all)

And I agree that this in an interesting approach. I can only imagine the DRIVER who receives a ticket along w/ the explanation that "we gave you this citation to encourage safe bicycling". Yeah, that'll help auto / bike relations! ;)

[Jonathan Krall]

I like the fact that they seem to be more focused on motorist behavior than they have in the past (assuming "driver" = motorist). At least that is my impression.

[Aaron]

I wasn't ticketed, but I did have an Arlington officer yell at me when I ran a red light this weekend. (It was 6am on Saturday; there was nobody to stop for as I rode through Ballston on Fairfax Dr)

While I would have been upset to get ticketed, I do appreciate the increased focus on safety. And I have definitely noticed that more cars than usual are getting pulled over in Arlington.

[Dave]

I come to a stop at red lights then roll through in front of Capitol Police every day - they couldn't care less. We usually wave back and forth.

[Michael H.]

Interesting program.

As for the red lights, in some states there are now laws that specifically allow cyclists to roll through a red light after they have stopped to make sure it's safe to pass, but I think that's only in some mountain and western states. Makes sense though. If you can see that there are no cars for at least a few hundred feet, standing in front of the red light doesn't serve much of a purpose.

I've been trying to take mental notes of cyclist behavior lately after the Kornheiser controversy. I'm glad to see that the vast majority of cyclists on D.C. streets follow safe practices and traffic laws. But it frustrates me when that one guy (and it's usually a guy) rolls through a crowded downtown intersection against the red light at rush hour and snarls up the intersection. That one person gives the other 99% of cyclists a bad rep. I know that such an incident sticks in my mind more than the dozens of cyclists who obey the traffic laws. No one notices that. This is why the "outlaw" stereotype can get so exaggerated.

If you know of someone who completely ignores the rules of the road and that behavior affects traffic, car/cyclist relations and general safety, point that out and tell him that he's only hurting other cyclists.