If I can spit on their windshield, they’re too close to me. That usually makes me feel better.

Have you tried walking on the MBT? There’s a path right from union station to NoMa.

It doesn’t make much sense for my commute :(, it’s very nice though

I feel ya, bud. Worst driving I have ever seen. And I’ve been around.

>give glowering looks and make them feel guilty

Brother this does not work. They don’t give a shit. They can kill you while watching tiktok on their phones and they won’t even be charged with manslaughter. And they know that.

What’s the MBT?

Walk around with a pocket of pennies, flip em at the bad cars

so what’s the solution besides carrying or fighting, both of which are risky at best? i feel like re-education wouldn’t work with most of these drivers and reasoning with people who can’t understand counterfactuals is pointless. and obviously the cops won’t do anything to enforce traffic rules, they’re car drivers as well.

Yeah, it didn’t used to be this bad. Covid seems to have wiped out everyone’s ability to drive. Stay safe out there, and just assume every car is going to run a red or a stop sign for safety.

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understood 🫡

To be honest, this is every city in the Northeast. I’m not saying that’s right and that drivers shouldn’t be accountable for driving like assholes, but it’s just a fact. I will say, DC is far and away the best city I’ve seen at having bicycle-safe infrastructure, which it deserves credit for. We also have a substantial amount of speed cameras in place throughout the district and recently passed a law to make right on red turns illegal by 2025. Many cities don’t employ such measures, which makes life for pedestrians harder.

My only advice is just to always assume that a driver is driving distracted because the vast majority are (watch how many cars are delayed at accelerating when a light turns green because they’re on their phones) and to never assume they will slow down/stop for you until they actually do.

Stay safe.

Caution.

Its definitely been getting worse. It's rare that I drive anywhere in the city without witnessing something outrageously dangerous from a driver. It seems like it's a pretty bad combination of drivers that genuinely don't give a shit at all, and drivers so unaware that it could be considered malicious.

I suggest car cameras and driving like you don't wanna die. That's what I do

I hear ya. Almost got hit on K st NE yesterday afternoon by a guy running a red FOUR SECONDS after it turned in a freaking school zone

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Branch_Trail

you should lengthen your user name to add "and be prepared to run"

Wow, cool!

Practice the art of meditation and laugh it off with driver.

Trust me, escalating shit ain't the way.

You're not gonna change their horrible driving habits. Most will get even more pissed if you look at them and they are never to blame in their eyes.

If you're inclined, become active with organizations working to change the laws and enforcement. What's needed is a cultural change, but the enforcement has to happen if it's going to change.

Keep your wits about you and head on a swivel. Never trust a red light and run for your life.

Drivers here are, in my opinion, the worst in the country. The combination of not giving a shit because there are ZERO consequences, narcissism/selfishness, clout chasing, phone gazing, and constant weed smoking while driving is dangerous for everybody.

I get the sentiment, but some people need to be put in their place though. I’m tired of being a good pedestrian and following the rules only to almost get splattered on a weekly basis.

I run a 6 and a half minute mile 😈 car fatties got nothing on me

Welcome to DC!

I don't think covid has much to do with it. I think not enforcing a single traffic violation for a decade probably does though.

I’ve started laying on the horn whenever someone does insane shit near me on the road. Some idiot passed me on the right in a dual active construction/school zone doing like 45, then got two more lanes over, only to get stopped behind another car at a red, so I pulled up a car length’s ahead of him at the light. 🤔

Just pointlessly aggro driving. I horned that dude for like 5 solid seconds. It’s a small thing, but I feel like if more people shamed the reckless drivers, they might think twice about it.

And it makes me feel better.

I’ll probably get shot for it.

🤷🏼‍♂️

Every city thinks they have the worst drivers. This isn’t some profound observation. There isn’t any traffic enforcement in DC, and MD and VA drivers don’t have to pay traffic camera tickets. What do you expect to happen?

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Generaly agree with you, but do speed cameras really do anything except make it aggravating to drive (not in itself a bad goal, just not the stated goal)? The city has a reputation for not following up on traffic tickets or getting dangerous drivers off the road.

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I think your thinking is right on. Speed cameras only temporarily cause drivers to drive slower, but they indirectly force drivers to drive more vigilantly so as to not get a ticket. I often see drivers speed, then slow down when they see a camera and then speed up again when they’re out of the camera’s view. But, just my opinion, that’s more reassuring than having drivers use some of the multi-lane avenues like a highway while texting or looking at IG.

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I stopped biking in the city because I was scared of always getting near misses from cars, and drivers yelling obscenities at me because I’m using the lane lol. It’s absurd.

This is what you get when you combine minimal human enforcement with minimal consequences (i.e., Maryland/Virginia drivers have no reason to pay camera tickets and thus zero reason to care about cameras, DC residents can renew their driver's licenses even with thousands of dollars of dangerous moving violations on their records, a comically understaffed city boot team).

The people who have created and enthusiastically support the status quo keep getting re-elected (well, except for Silverman), so nothing will change.

you would think the city would love to enforce traffic laws to improve overall quality of life and create an inclusive space that reflects well on the nation’s capital. i just don’t get why they love the status quo.

MPD thinks active traffic enforcement is a poor use of resources, especially when their numbers are down and certain violent crimes are on the rise.

The Council thinks human traffic enforcement creates an inequitable environment.

And so here we are, with the city trying to traffic-camera its way to Vision Zero.

It can be frustrating and sometimes scary. Walk with confidence but don't be stupid, remain observant (i.e., do not stare at your phone while walking like so many other peds and drivers), and assume that the driver does not see you. Make eye contact with every driver closest to you when you are crossing a street. If that does not happen, wait for them to stop or pass. The near-misses are terrifyingly infuriating, but you have to let the small things go. I've become a big fan of giving people 'thumbs downs' and yelling, "Booooooooo!"

I honestly want to always carry a carton of eggs and have them ready in each hand for when people almost run me over

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antisocial behavior is a good indicator of propensity to engage in other antisocial behaviors. im sure the mpd knows this, so why not correct all antisocial behaviors?

I would say that Philly definitely has it worse. We at least have sorta slow drivers just due to the inherit limited physical space — Philly has more space and those peeps just floor it and expect anyone in their way to get out.

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>MD and VA drivers don’t have to pay traffic camera tickets

For other readers who don't know, this is what the commenter is referencing.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/marylanders-and-virginians-owe-75-of-unpaid-dc-photo-tickets-according-to-ddot-and-mva-report/65-021cd138-aab7-4d82-9a9f-c24f2d00d208#:~:text=Drivers%20in%20Maryland%20and%20Virginia,unpaid%20fines%20in%20the%20District.

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I'd be less worried about someone coming to fight me, and more worried about a bullet coming my way. Many of these aggressive, no fucks given, drivers are also armed, usually illegally. Unless you're faster than bullets.

Yah, don't do this. Horns are used for alerting people to something that's happening, not shaming people for something that happened. When anyone on the road, drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, hear a horn, they look for the source to make sure they're safe, so you're just causing confusion and creating more danger by using the horn that way.

I like that your reasoning for not physically fighting bad drivers is that you don't have the time or energy lolol

In all seriousness, it doesn't really get better but don't let it ruin your day! I do feel like there has been a very slow turning of public opinion on overall traffic safety in the city in recent years so maybe we will see meaningful change in the years to come.

Ceramic is better than rocks. Smash a spark plug and save all the little pieces. They shatter glass just by touching it.

Throwing a rock at one car isn’t going to educate the next 100 Evel Knievals coming next. Risk/benefit seems a little off.

>walking to work in NoMa from Union Station or to clear my head on my lunch break, it feels like a gamble with my life

When I think about the area you're describing, what first comes to mind is it's most visually distinctive landmark: a highway-like, interstate-sized overpass traversing a massive railyard with 20-30 sets of tracks. As you travel north from that gargantuan structure, the tracks are crossed by a succession of lengthy, dank underpass corridors that most drivers are in an understandable hurry to get out of. The neighborhood is framed by highly congested major road traffic corridors: NY Ave/Rte. 50 where everybody from PG/AA counties comes in and out; the terminus of I-395 where everybody from Virginia comes in and out; North Capitol Street.

Honestly man, if you thought to yourself "I'm highly motivated to organize my life around urban pedestrianism," and THAT'S the place you decided to root down, you don't have a DC problem. You have a judgment problem.

The vast majority of DC neighborhoods have vehicular traffic congestion/pattern/flow characteristics that are *completely* unlike the neighborhood you picked to walk around in.

Wherever you came from, or wherever you're comparing DC to, is certain to contain more and less walkable areas, just like DC. And you picked probably the singularly most inappropriate neighborhood for the kind of life you say you wanted.

Just move.

People are driving on the sidewalks now?

I mean, I commute in and don’t have the option of working from home. It’s unfortunately where my office is, I’d love for it to be somewhere different.

I mean to be fair, there is something wrong/something happening: there’s a maniac weaving through traffic at a high rate of speed with zero regard for anyone else. I want people to be aware of that. It’s extremely unsafe.

> you would think the city would love to enforce traffic laws to improve overall quality of life and create an inclusive space that reflects well on the nation’s capital. i just don’t get why they love the status quo.

DC can’t enforce tickets on cars with Maryland and Virginia plates and the governments there don’t care about the quality of life in DC, it’s a place to earn an income and bring back to their states. Neither political party wants to be the party responsible for allowing DC to collect millions in ticket revenue, they’d frame it as an equity issue for their residents.

source: from Maryland

Police don’t exist to improve quality of life or create an inclusive space. They exist to protect property and wealth. That isn’t being threatened by crazy drivers mowing down pedestrians.

If a wealthy, prominent business owner/donor got hit by a car the mayor would be out stopping red light runners that afternoon.

I’ve driven in downtown and I disregard mean looks by now. Especially because of the number of people who blithely walk out into traffic or blow through stop signs and lights on their bikes.

have you considered you’re the issue?

My first month in DC i almost got hit by a speeding car with MD plates by the Archived metro station. Light was green for pedestrians. If I got hit they would face minimal repercussions. Nothing will change.

Nope, because it’s not my decision to casually ignore the stop sign and sail through the intersection on my bicycle.

No, a maniac was weaving through traffic. That's when you honk the horn, to alert people to something that's happening so they can make sure they're safe. That's when it's okay to distract other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, because there might be a threat to their safety.

Like you said, you only honk the horn when you're at a stop light to shame bad drivers. So then you're distracting those other people on the road just so you can express anger.

and yet people continue to re-elect the mayor of the city when nothing changes

It's just that your whole post is negatively generalizing about DC as a whole, when you're really just saying "trying to walk around in the vicinity of Dave Thomas Circle is fucking crazy, right?" Yes, it totally is. And it's not really representative of living in DC as a pedestrian writ large.

If you worked south of Union Station instead of north of it, you'd have a walking commute that passes beautiful historic landmarks that people travel across the world just to see once. To me, that seems like a more truthful experience from which to generalize about pedestrian life in the District, rather than the generalization you're making.

EDIT: And the pile-on that your post encouraged, where a dozen Pedestrian Supremacist guerillas start talking about petty forms of political violence, is just fucking tweaked.

When did I say that I only honk at red lights? That would be pretty stupid. Learn to read more critically before you’re imagining things to get mad at on the internet.

so all the mean look you get are for obeying traffic laws....

DC needs to announce that they will place a Denver boot on any car in DC, at any time, day or night, with outstanding tickets. Then, the Mayor could send police cadets to both parking lots and street parking to scan licenses and call/scan them into DDOT’s teams to immediately boot cars, emphasizing those with the highest number of tickets…until they pay. Sounds aggressive, but it might bring neighboring governors to the table to make reciprocity the law, in the name of pedestrian safety.

I wouldn't recommend handing out "glowering" looks. (I had to look that word up btw :D). Someone will eventually accept your challenge.

You literally just described how you honked at someone only when you were able to get near them at a red light to express your anger, not when the honking could help. And you should know that, to everyone around you, it just looks like someone honking at a red light for no reason. And you're distracting them with that

it’s a good thing i like to tussle, i just won’t start it while wearing business casual

kk dude. 🫡

And since this is a thread about unsafe drivers, it's worth noting unsafe behavior.

You got it, chief. 🫡

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Well, anecdotally it seems that the last 2 years have been much worse for pedestrians. I’d put that with the other social problems that arose with Covid. People are more selfish now.

See, this is good. Keep your trolling off the road and on the internet where it won't bother anyone.

In the one anecdote you provided to make your point, this is exactly what you did. Can't blame them for thinking that's what you normally do when that's the only thing you've described doing in relation to the subject.

Sure thing bud. 🫡

Oh apologies, you aren’t the same guy.

Nowhere did I ever say that Iaid on the horn at the light. I reflected on how long I was on the horn, and the description of that came later as I was describing where I was at the light.

But to say “he pushed the horn when he was at the light” is reading something into the account that isn’t necessarily there.

(And indeed I did not do that, because that would be silly and counterproductive to what horns are for.)

This is why reading comprehension is important.

Lived in Philly for over 10 years and it’s considerably worse there. No crosswalk pedestrian signs, deplorable road conditions, extremely narrow roads (old city, so understandable) and a very liberal view of what constitutes an acceptable parking spot (I.e. middle of Broad, the sidewalk, etc). Love that city though.

So, I mean, here's what you said:

>so I pulled up a car length’s ahead of him at the light. 🤔

>Just pointlessly aggro driving. I horned that dude for like 5 solid seconds

So if I'm rereading REALLY carefully, after already being supplied additional context by you, I can see that you technically did not specify when you "horned that dude." However, given that you decided to place that sentence immediately after the sentence about pulling up ahead of the driver at the light, and didn't supply any additional information about when you used your horn, most reasonable people would have inferred that you used your horn after the fact, at the light.

Like, if you wanna say you're technically right, fine, you're technically right that you never said you horned the dude at the light. But don't blame it on our reading comprehension, it was at best an ambiguous statement that easily could have been construed the way that two separate people did in fact construe it.

I jumped out of the way of a car that nearly hit me while I was walking (with a WALK sign) in a Georgetown crosswalk. I glowered at the driver, and he stopped the car, lowered the window, and yelled at me, "What the fuck are you lookin' at?!" I remember saying to the friend I was talking to on the phone, "I'm gonna have to call you back." I walked up to the car and kicked it, HARD.

The guy pulled over (double parked) and got out. I could see he was not only bigger than me, but really pissed off. I weighed my options ... and I ran :)

I ran and ran, through crowded sidewalks, diagonally across streets, maybe 15 blocks I skedaddled. Eventually I either lost him or he just broke off the chase.

Anyway, I surely escalated that situation, but it all started with me staring him down.

I definitely think that accelerated it, but I still think the root of the problem is there being zero consequences for your actions when in control of a 3 ton metal weapon.

Aren’t all guns banned in dc? Wouldn’t any type of carrying be illegal in the city? I could be wrong I don’t actually know

I'm not sure the rules tbh.

“I was in Paris for two weeks. I just got home. I ate so many croissants.” Where did the person eat the croissants? At home?

Dude insisted that’s what I said, I pointed out that it wasn’t, they dug in, and here we are. Technically right is still right, especially when someone’s calling you on technicalities.

🤷🏼‍♂️

Well everyone she ran against in the Democratic primary cared even less than she did about these issues, so it’s not hard to see why she was re-elected.

Idk man, seems like both of you were digging in when you could have just as easily admitted that you weren't very clear and could have constructed your sentence better. This whole thing could have ended after one comment with a "my bad, I can see how you might've read that from my comment, let me rephrase" and an edit to the original comment.

And no, no one was "calling you on technicalities," you were legitimately misunderstood by someone, and then they dug in because your first instinct was to insult their reading comprehension ("learn to read critically dude") instead of just clarifying what you actually meant.

I'm sure this won't be received positively since you're on the defensive, so I'll bow out here. Just posting this because we all get this way on Reddit from time to time and I find it's useful to get a heat check from someone when I need to tone it down. Have a great day.

Oh you’re completely right. Not disagreeing with any of 👆🏻.

You have a good weekend.

DC vs Heller. No.

Someone in this sub will always blame the op for whatever they are complaining about. It's a regional character flaw.

Your car and your stop sign are of no interest to me and you should stop driving in the city. I'll do everything I can to make that selfishness difficult for people like you. Stop. Move away. Go somewhere else.

I hope I do this to you soon. Just for the salt.

Yep, he's just a perfect model DC citizen and it's EVERYONE ELSE that is the problem. Very common wreckless driver attitude.

I agree that drivers do not pay attention but I also feel that pedestrians do not pay attention. While pedestrians have the right away in the crosswalk it appears that numerous pedestrians believe that if they are approaching a crosswalk they do not have to stop and look. I am not talking about crosswalks in which they have the right away because they have the green light.

Well...you gotta huck 'em a bit.

Out of the countries and cities I've lived in, DC has the worst drivers. Feels like everyone got their license a day ago without passing the test.

The responsibility to be safe from other cars is entirely on you and if you have to drive, learn to meditate so that the road rage doesn't cause you to have a coronary.

Yes. Every time I've driven through Dupont Circle with the light I've had to beep at pedestrians ooking at their phones and walking against the light.

Baltimore is for sure worse than DC

That dent from your shoe cost me $800. Thanks

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Yet MPD does squat about violent and property crime either.

WUTTABOUT....BIKES?!?!

Every fucking time when we're talking about shitty drivers, somebody brings up bikes.

About two or three years before the pandemic, MD took parallel parking off the driving. Now there's a slew of drivers who can't park for the life of them. Also, let's not forget about slick weather conditions. I swear, Marylanders have no clue how to drive in the rain. They either drive to fast and cause accidents or they drive to slow and back up highway traffic for miles.

Idk, don't go in the road and it's normally fine for me

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It was only a matter of time before someone came in hot with "mUrLaNd dRiVeR".

98% of the posts on this sub are just people complaining about cars. Meanwhile I'm just trying to dodge all the reckless people running across the street without a walk signal or bikers blowing through red lights and stop signs.

100%. I was crossing in a crosswalk the other day—waited for all oncoming traffic to clear first. AFTER I start crossing, a gentleman decided to TURN LEFT INTO ME. I literally had to sprint to not be hit. I was reflexively screaming “what the fuck dude!!” the whole time. Dude gave me a lil wave as he pulled away. 🙃 (Oh, and the cop sitting in his car half a block away did NOTHING.)

you can slow down, you know. no need to dodge if you’re going 10-15

You mean like the Broken Windows theory of policing? https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/shattering-broken-windows

I drive in D.C. having moved here from a relaxed rural setting about two years ago. I used to be super chill and gracious to other drivers on the road but man, these local drivers have really ramped up my aggression if only to not be constantly cut off and to actually make it to my destination. It sucks, and I hate that I've become this way.

what about it? the general consensus is that it probably had a modest effect on reducing crime but probably works better when used in limited contexts with other inventions. furthermore, ensuring order in a community is a valuable goal in and of itself.

Most of the tools you're describing already exist, it's just that the Mayor has not made them a priority.

DC has underfunded the booting and towing crew for years. During the first year or so of the pandemic they all but entirely refused to do their jobs, until (now-outgoing) CM Cheh got on their cases. Still, as of last year, their capacity to boot was only 50 cars per day (!) which is basically the same as zero.

Several Council Members noted that the Mayor's proposed budget kept the same funding for the booting/towing crew as in previous years, which is obviously insufficient for the problem. I recall that several Council Members proposed better funding for the booting/towing crew, but I don't recall whether they succeeded.

One thing I see often is drivers smoking a joint while driving. Doesn’t make me feel safe at all

Yes! I’m all for pedestrian right of way, but it’s annoying when my vehicle is already in fast motion or damn near crossing a crosswalk and a pedestrian decides to start crossing. Now I have to slam the brakes when it probably would have been faster to let me pass then cross.

I've noticed that people are just so much more angry than they used to be. And it shows in the way people drive around here. As a driver, I've literally slowed down and pulled into the right lane so that an angry speeder can pass me, and they'll still stay behind me and get pissed off, even tho they could've passed me and gone on their way. I'm tired of caring anymore. If people want to be angry and take it out on everyone else, so be it. I'll just do my best to drive defensively and walk defensively. It definitely does not work 100% of the time, but it helps some. A little.

If you meet the legal requirements for concealed carry, which most citizens do, DC is required to issue a concealed carry permit. It'll cost you $300-$400 and take 1-3 months but you'll get it

I had no idea! Thanks

Literally saw a fucking huge ass truck hit the side railing entering the bridge by Lincoln memorial to go into VA. I think the driver was drunk or something. At around 11 am today,

Every time this is brought up, people jump straight to enforcement. Enforcement would help to some degree, but what would help more is street design that forces the drivers to drive safe like raised crosswalks and narrower streets so that they drive safely even when they’re not being actively watched.

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i've been all over the world and US. It's really really really bad here.

It's the reason they avoided giving tickets for fare evasion on Metro. It was seen as creating an inequitable environment.

My recommendation? Just run and do your best to be aware and assume that drivers are not paying attention.

I wouldn't recommend starting a fight. Someone might be bigger or stronger than you or have a gun. It's not going to make a difference. It's like walking into an open office and telling people to shut up. It's a waste of your energy.

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Last I checked, DC had a little under 10k active concealed carry permits as of this year. Really not that many in a city of 700,000. Virginia has something like 638k or 7.4% of the states population.

There is no political will in a city with 100% single party politicians. It’s different shades of the same solutions. Entitled politicians reflect their entitled base. This results in entitled driving culture. See what happens when they hit you. The y will drive away and pay no price. Independent and Republican candidates would fight for stricter traffic laws but they’ll never win in the People’s Republic of the District of Columbia.

I used to think DC drivers were such a-holes and than I went to Boston now you all are a pleasure to share the road with

Been a few years since I've been on the MBT. I thought it terminated at the noma metro and the connection to union was on-road?

Sometimes when a car gets too close I'll push their mirror in or smack the side/hood/trunk of the car. Maybe not productive, but I'm sure if DC was notorious for pedestrians pushing mirrors in, cars would leave more distance. MDP is useless.

Eg not ie

People probably shouldn't be running into the street where there isnt a crosswalk

People on bikes should probably stop at red lights

I lived there for over 3 years, and would Metro as much as possible and use my Raleigh RXC bicycle to move fast in the bike lanes…only draw back was that metro hours didn’t always correspond to my work schedule. Go fast in the bike lanes, and learn how to make up time on the less busy routes. I used H.street quite a bit to move laterally to avoid North Capital, especially on Friday evenings. I guess in a gist, go fast, use metro as much as possible, the buses with metro aren’t a bad option either.

I agree that it’s totally awful. Nick Sementelli is a guy who writes/advocates for safer streets. He has some good practical ways to bring about small change. He tends to write in various pubs, but here’s one: https://thedcline.org/2022/05/05/nick-sementelli-in-greater-greater-washington-dcs-current-car-trip-reduction-goal-is-woefully-inadequate/

First mistake right there - DC gov doesn't care about quality of life. Not sure what DC gov does care about honestly.

I 100% feel this. Glad to see a post like this up. DC drivers suck so much. Today, I had a guy rolling his car towards me while I was crossing the stop sign. I stoppef and gave him a look, his car still rolling got so close. Shitty ass drivers.

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Someone had a gun pulled on them on video about 2 years ago at M and 1st by Harris teeter. Don't fuck around with these people. The ones giving the fewest fucks about you as a ped/cyclist are the same ones who already have felonies on their record and who's whole persona is about not stepping down/back and who are armed illegally as a rule.

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One of those sports air horns would be handy as well.

Drivers should probably put their phones down.

we don't have enough resources to solve half of the murders in this town. how far down the list are minor traffic offenses

It’s not exactly the lack of enforcement that I found to be the main cause of chaos: rather the sheer number of cars operating only by gps (gps that thinks the lanes actually make sense) when actually most turn lanes are de facto parking spots for delivery trucks and Ubers, and every other street is one way, super narrow, or literally changes constantly between blocks or times of day.

The result is that a driver cannot expect to safely navigate the city using traffic directions alone; and instead has to adhere to a mad-maxian set of ad-hoc rules that have been formulated to keep you from running smack into a (sometimes official or diplomatic) car “parked” in a turn lane. It’s dangerous to walk here, yeah, it’s also dangerous to bike and still dangerous to drive.

Seems like this city was designed to keep most of its poor residents as out-of-sight and out-of-luck as possible, so no mass infrastructure for people to travel by car was ever really implemented. This would seem like a good thing for pedestrians, except that when the city finally did start gentrifying and putting money into massive urban growth, they’ve done nothing to make the city driveable for the actual cars that belong to the people that inevitably show up to live and work here.

Edit: to be clear, I walk everyday in this neighborhood to work. I would love to suggest everyone do the same, but as OP clearly laid out, walking is risky. So we have kind of a chicken and egg problem rn.

Key word is “illegally”

Welcome to our world

The only thing that I’ve seen working every day I drive to work are physical “traffic calming” measures made of concrete and steel.

What does parking tickets have to do with pedestrian safety? Seems like just another way to squeeze less wealthy residents out. Actually enforcing moving violations is where the city is lacking, but it's easier revenue to just do more parking enforcement rather than spending comparatively more money to enforce moving violations, the things that actually endanger pedestrians.

Amen. I have lived here 14 years and feel the same as you. Drivers behave with impunity in DC and they know it. They know they will suffer zero consequences for their behavior if they hit and kill you, are sober, and say the magic words like "I didn't see him or her," or "the sun was in my eyes. It's completely outrageous.

Vote for people who will enforce laws

Drivers who are ticketed for moving violations are likely to park in DC for work or leisure. The car owner’s license tag is noted on the ticket. Therefore, finding a car which has outstanding tickets, simply by checking the license tag (while the car is parked on the street or in a lot) is a straightforward way to find cars to Denver boot when their owners live in MD or VA and have outstanding tickets of any kind in DC. However, as a previous post noted, the department charged with traffic/ticket enforcement is woefully underfunded and has been for many years. At this point, it would take a sustained and organized public outcry to change this. So far, that hasn’t materialized and there is no impetus to change at all.

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You should be slowing down as you approach a crosswalk. You should not be "in fast motion" at all near a crosswalk. Even an attentive pedestrian cannot react as fast as your car can move.

Drivers bear the greater responsibility for road safety. If the pedestrian light is on, pedestrians are not responsible for letting you drive through the crosswalk because you were not slowing down to begin with.

That's not entirely true. I went in recently to renew my license, and the DMV person said I had to pay a parking ticket from 2007 that I completely forgot about because I appealed it and never heard from them about the outcome. It was only $15, but she still made me pay it before she would renew my license.

I’m not referring to crosswalks with the walk sign/light on.

Pedestrians have the right of way in all marked crosswalks even if there is no traffic light, you should be slowing down as you approach crosswalks without traffic lights as well. As a driver, you should always assume that there are pedestrians waiting to cross even if you cannot immediately see them. The worst that can happen to you by doing this is that you are slightly delayed. The worst that can happen to a pedestrian when cars are not properly yielding at crosswalks is that they are seriously injured or die.

Obviously, pedestrians should not expect cars to slow down for them if there is a "don't walk" traffic light.

One time, a man turned left at a red light while I was crossing the street. He followed me for a block to scream out his window. I just don't get it. You're in such a rush that you have to run a red light, but you have enough time to follow someone walking for a block? The worst part is that this isn't the first time a driver has followed me for one or more blocked because I existed in public on foot or on my bike. In fact, it's the third time.

I'm fresh out of fucks to give when it comes to coddling drivers and their fragile egos. If they fuck up they can (and regularly do) kill other people. Fuck em.

The off road part of the trail ends at the noma station, but it's a protected lane from there to union station (iirc)

I think our perspectives are different and my message is not coming across the way I intended, which is okay. I mentioned in my original comment I’m all for pedestrian right of way and not arguing that :)

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