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While ped/bike crash numbers may be up; how do the rates compare?

DC government could help make Capitol Hill safer by keeping the parking enforcement cars from blocking the bike and traffic lanes during rush hour. Bikes and cars swerve into opposing traffic to get around. Or bikes squeeze between them and parked cars and risk getting doored. Last night I had a close call with a car that sped out of a parking space without looking. I think he was scrambling to move his car before he got a ticket -- the parking enforcement car was blocking the road just behind him. This was at about 6pm.

Is there some reason they can't do parking enforcement on foot? From the sidewalk?

need percentages... otherwise useless and scare mongering numbers.

wd, percentages of what? What we need to know is how many trips were made by bike per year (if you have that info I'd love to see it). And it would also be good to know if reporting of crashes changed in any way, since this is a measure of how many crashes were reported, not necessarily how many happened.

I don't think this info is useless nor do I see it as scare mongering.

Could some of the bike crash numbers be simply due to:
a) Increased willingness on the part of cyclists to report such incidents (when in the past they would not)

b) Increased willingness on the part of police to respond to such incidents (when in the past they would not)

Would just counting how many times a cyclist was taken to the hospital be a better gauge?

yes, yes and maybe.

@Greenbelt,

Bikes and cars swerve into opposing traffic to get around...

Why are the bikes forced to swerve into oncoming traffic to get around a car parked in the bike lane. Don't they just merge into the "normal" traffic lane? A pain, but not anywhere near as dangerous as being forced into an oncoming lane...

Oboe, fair enough -- maybe a bit of exaggeration. They typically block most of the bike lane and part of the traffic lane. My problem is that cars behind the back up get ticked off by the delays if they can't squeeze by partly in the opposite lane, and when drivers get pissy they get more aggressive on the bikes.

I have some sympathy for local residents who want enforcement so outsiders can't poaching too heavily on those free two-hour spots. And granted it's a minor annoyance in the grand scheme. But rush hour lane blocking just seems unhelpful, when it seems like walking the rounds would also work, or limiting enforcement to non-rush when there are fewer cars out.

Why do parking enforcement offices needs cars anyway? Isn't their job conducted on foot?

If they require transportation to get from one area of the city to another I think that's called Metro, Metro Bus, Circulator, or even CaBi.

Couldn't DC buy a bunch of CaBi memberships to use to get around?

FWIW, I doubt that appropriate accident data is not being collected. It is as part of the FHWA Highway Safety program, and is paid for by the US DOT.

The issue is how the police department is collecting the data, what access is being provided, and how it is being analyzed in association with DDOT and DCOP in order to address systematic issues.

Note that the Gazette had a piece about the City of Laurel doing this:

http://www.gazette.net/stories/03242011/laurnew170256_32541.php

I don't know how the advocacy community interacts with the traffic section of the crime data/analysis/research section of MPD.

Obviously, the interaction needs to improve.

JeffB -- it doesn't work to use bikeshare bikes for an 8 hour shift.

But converting a goodly part of the fleet to bicycles and/or electric bicycles makes sense.

On WV Ave. is the fleet management div. parking lot and it is a sea of those cars.

For asset management and cost reasons it makes sense to rightsize the use of motor vehicles in the conduct of city business.

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