dcash116 t1_j2dnsjd wrote on December 31, 2022 at 2:09 PM

Downtown is a complete mess for everyone. It’s designed to enable drivers to go anywhere, but ends up confusing everyone. Plus what is the point of letting people drive to the Smithsonian if you can’t park anywhere for less than 50 dollars. This impractical situation causes frustration, which leads to impatient, and often hostile driving practices.

I’m always scared when someone nearly kills me on my bike, but I’m even more scared when I see the confused looks through their windshield. It’s not their job to decide where they should and shouldn’t drive. No one educates them about pedestrian and bike safety.

Of course some of drivers are homicidal and some are just stupidly aggressive, but most are just absent minded, because that’s what the exhaustion of driving does to the mind and body. What a stupid form of transportation that we’ve universally adopted.

It’s a shame that people die for choosing to walk.

Cars aren’t a luxury, they’re a cost that is forced upon most Americans. However we’re fortunate to live in a walkable city.

If you live and work in the District, sell your car. I save 3,000 dollars a year, and you could save more depending on your situation. People say D.C. is unaffordable, and they’re right, but a big part of that cost is car ownership.

Use metro, use the bike lanes and sidewalks; force them to continue improving the infrastructure.

And tell your friends to do the same.

app_priori t1_j2dtzp7 wrote on December 31, 2022 at 2:59 PM

My issue with DC driving is that the city is laid out in an imperfect grid. There are many avenues that cut diagonally across city blocks. I find myself even confused by what the GPS is telling me to do sometimes - it will tell me to turn but I then see that making that turn isn't very safe because cars are incoming from the other direction along the diagonal. The stop lights are sometimes ambiguous - are they for my lane or the other lane?

I don't own a car and mostly walk or use the train, but I think if the city was laid out in a perfect grid without all these weird cross avenues, it will ease a lot of the confusion. Avenues like New York Avenue, Florida Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, etc. can disorient drivers, especially those who are not familiar with these streets.

dcash116 t1_j2e5byr wrote on December 31, 2022 at 4:22 PM

You’re absolutely right, and unfortunately that’s something we can’t easily fix, but we could easily reduce the amount of roads that cars can use. I second your frustration about using GPS, but that’s on Apple and Google; and we see how slow they are to improve the key flaws in their software.

app_priori t1_j2e5qpp wrote on December 31, 2022 at 4:25 PM

I would start by squaring off some of the roundabouts, like the ones around Thomas Circle and Logan Circle. I know, roundabouts are much more efficient than regular intersections but most American drivers don't really know how to navigate roundabouts. I know I struggle with them when driving.