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I'm with you. And people speed on it like crazy. Yesterday I was trying to get on it via Waterside Drive and I had to get up to 50+ mph just to keep up with the flow of traffic.

Admittedly, it's not usually that bad, but still.

Edit: Damn... tough crowd today. Can someone at least explain to me why they find my post so objectionable, instead of just downvoting?

The solution is probably to close it to cars and let the national park be used for bikes/pedestrians

I hope this doesn’t offend, but drivers like OP should avoid rock creek. They’re the worst to deal with and are the ones who cause accidents.

I wasn’t the one driving - I was in an Uber

I use it every day to commute and the only accidents Ive seen are 1) folks merging on (2nd car rear ending the one in front - happens a lot at the P st NB entrance); 2) people ignoring the barriers and going the wrong way during rush hour and 3) fender benders as folks try to cut it at the last minute for the Beach Drive exit NB.

I agree that some folks speed but I also see a lot of folks just chilling at 25 in the passing lane, which imo is equally dangerous.

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The Rock Creek Motor Speedway? It's the only fun road in the city.

If OP sweats at 25 mph they should never be allowed to drive. Imagine OP doing 70 on 540, Im sure they wouldn't go that fast saying they dont feel safe.

Well there was your issue

Because it is very unbelievable that you had to get up to 50+ mph to keep up with the flow of traffic. I have never experienced speeds anywhere close to 50 mph through many years of using Rock Creek Parkway on my commute.

That number three.. those bastards..

I definitely have experienced traffic going that fast, esp south of Calvert. Farther north the narrowness of the lanes tends to slow traffic. I have seen cars off the road and even in the creek a few times. Stay safe out there everyone!

The biggest danger is the out of town driver, moderately lost with their heads buried in their GPS thinking if they make a wrong turn they'll end up in Montana

Man I loved that road. I’d drop my car into sports mode and cruise

You forgot the best part, it reverses direction!

They need to close it to car traffic and make it cycle/pedestrian only.

Yeah I can always tell when inexperienced drivers are on it and it's such a pain. Idk whats up with folks being so entitled they think they move somewhere and not realize they'll have to learn new skills to assimilate. Uber drivers included.

People can drive fast and safe in rock creek because they've practiced and are experienced. There's plenty of things in life you can't just jump head first into and that's fine.

You don't need to get on it . I live in 20009 next to it and never use it. My husband does, and so does my son.

There's also no median barrier of any kind, which always makes me worry that some other driver is going to look at their phone at the wrong moment and kill both of us in a head-on collision.

I love it. For a few minutes, it feels like you’re not in the city.

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Or the Uber driver trying to make a left onto the P street ramp from the northbound side of the road

Marylanders gonna Maryland

Never drive in SWVA if Rock Creek scares you this much.

I read this study regarding roundabouts, they don't work because they're easy to understand, but because they are confusing. They require a level of attention that a stoplight does not. Despite this they have fewer accidents and traffic flows better through them. I think rock Creek gives this same vibe. It is terrifying, but for that same reason it is safer. People need to pay more attention on rock Creek thus fewer accidents happen.

Completely agreed with you and OP, not sure what the negativity is here. People drive way above the speed limit then slow down suddenly for curves in the road, it's messy!

Best road in DC. Driving it regularly was the only good part about living in Petsworth 😭

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Me too!!! I’ve always loved that part

No way it’s the bommmmmb!!!

You obviously did not grow up here.

I wish I liked it! I totally can see why it would be fun - I just end up shaking lol. but I definitely understand the appeal

It's definitely beautiful don't get me wrong! I *want* to like it and I love love love seeing the bridges. but I also have a lot of anxiety about getting sideswiped when driving or in an uber (I don't have a car right now)

But I also understand that might just be a personal problem

fwiw they were speeding

In retrospect I'm sure mine is just a personal fear of getting side-swiped (or doing the side-swiping). My car died so I don't drive anymore for the time being but I find that a lot of uber/lyft drivers completely ignore the lanes and will drift around with no regard for cars around them. For me personally that is what I find to be the most stressful and what prompted this post lol.

I currently am not driving but mine is just a personal fear of getting side-swiped (or doing the side-swiping). My car died so I don't drive anymore for the time being but I find that a lot of uber/lyft drivers completely ignore the lanes and will drift around with no regard for cars around them. For me personally that is what I find to be the most stressful and what prompted this post lol.

Here's the thing, unless you are in conditions where you might lose traction, you're probably safer on that road than most others. The reason being is that EVERYONE is PAYING ATTENTION. If you are scared or have to actively turn frequently, you're not on your phone. I would say the most real danger is either losing control of your vehicle or an animal jumping out in front of you.

If you’re talking about the crazy lane closures and direction switches then I can see where you’re coming from. I’m just saying that compared to the vast majority of other roads in DC, Rock Creek is very tame. You have a far greater chance of being side swiped on any residential street.

The best day of the year is the approx one day a year when Park Police decide to ticket for merging over the solid line.

For a few minutes, it feels like you’re really alive.

P St exit accidents I always think it is because it is still a left turn on Google Maps for people in the right lanes coming from Kennedy Center direction for some reason I don’t know why they do not fix that.

I don't find it the least bit challenging or scary. Not every road can be broad and straight.

Me too lol smh. I will happily add 20 minutes to my trip to avoid. Especially at night or bad weather.

I think perhaps a more accurate title for this post would be "Bad Uber drivers are terrifying"

Let’s go ahead and fill in the creek, make it six lanes and cut the speed limit to 15 for OP

ahhhhh thats YOU driving 10 mph with your brights on. please just throw your keys in the creek and do us all a favor

it is lovely driving 40. no need for speed. the problem is idiots who dont know how to drive or are “too scared”. or same same. ludicrous

THIS

>Idk whats up with folks being so entitled they think they move somewhere and not realize they'll have to learn new skills to assimilate. Uber drivers included.

😆😆😆

What an absolutely boneheaded take.

uber/taxi/“professional” drivers are quite literally the worst fucking drivers on the planet.

Its like Mario cart IRL - freaking awesome. Only thing missing are the rainbows :(

They truly are. Uber at least helps you finance a car, so I have a theory that people who have never driven before rush through getting their license, use the Uber financing program and then jump onto the road without any real care for learning how to driver properly.

Especially on a warm summer night when you can put the windows down, turn up the music, and catch a breeze from the winding roads. Such a great feeling.

That’s my favorite road in DC!

wut? this reads like a 15 year old that's never driven a car before lol

It's infrequent, but there have been people going the wrong way during rush hour. It's, predicability, bad.

https://wtop.com/dc/2018/03/head-on-crash-closes-part-of-southbound-rock-creek-parkway/

I love driving there but the potholes suck…..but that’s just DC

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Agreed. Cars speed at 80-90 mph routinely.

Not so bad on a summer Saturday at 6.00 AM.

Been there. Done that. Love it.

This is my fear when there's two-way traffic on the Bay Bridge.

If you’re from Northwest, its our shortcut route

Take an alternate route? Just saying..

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Slow down.

It is not equally dangerous. Slow down, your time is not that important. Be safe.

You might think you’re driving fast and safe, but you are not. Slow down.

++++++++

Huh

I recommend against driving in Norway, the UK, New Zealand, much of Greece...

Rock Creek parkway is pretty much flat and hardly twisty. The lanes have markings and a standard width. There are no cliffs and it has guard rails.

On driving difficulty it gets a 2 out of 10. Very easy. Almost every road outside a city in Norway is on a cliff with constant blind turns and you need to know where the corners of your car are to inches to not hit the trucks that come around corners. There are no markings in the middle of the roads and there are reindeer, free ranging sheep and moose.

Essentially people need to be instructed how to drive better I guess. Norway takes it seriously. They enforce speeding harshly and alcohol even more so. Having driven there I saw why. The US road system is way too easy which lets people drive fast and badly.

Wide lanes are what make people drive fast that is well known if you want people to drive slowly you have to make lanes much narrower.

Whenever my GPS suggests that route, I choose to avoid it. It’s not that I can’t drive on it, it’s just with the 25 MPH speed limit, it feels like it takes forever to get back home. I’d rather drive through the city urban landscape anyway.

The solution is to ride on the trail next to it. That's way more fun

Meh, there's a quality trail just next to it.

Git gud, noob

It's really amazing how many people took this post and went with their own narrative of what you said - assuming you're the one driving, that you speed, that you go too slow, that you're saying there should be 6 lanes, that you're not from here, etc etc

Being in an Uber on this road is pretty sketchy and I agree with how you feel - and yeah maybe it would have been good to mention that context in your post, but the way people went off track in the comments and downvoted you is interesting and feels like folks jumping on the bandwagon a bit 🥲

Stay safe out there folks, I think we can all agree that there are bad drivers and there's also not ideal infrastructure design out here. Lots of things could improve!

Driving slower than traffic while sitting in the passing lane is incredibly dangerous. It then requires people to pass on the right, which means that passing and stagnating cars intermingle. Few things are more dangerous on a functioning roadway than cars going different speeds in the same lane. This is why passing lanes were established.

You’re not a skilled driver. Sorry. But don’t feel bad, most people can’t handle driving on anything except a very wide, very straight road.