Afterward, I wrote a Local Opinions essay that resulted in a small flurry of concern on D.C.'s part. Then-D.C. Department of Transportation head Jeff Marootian called me very solicitously, came to a Washington Area Bicyclists Association meeting at the Anacostia Playhouse (my home base) and seemed genuinely interested in working on the many, many issues centered on traffic control in Anacostia. I stated that I did not believe anything would really change unless there was some accountability for breaking the law (what a concept!) as well as real changes and upgrades to the infrastructure.
Three years later, there has been no change. Not a bit. The crosswalks are still the “historic” brick, meaning no one can see them even if they had any intention of stopping. I begged for the big, white-striped crosswalks that exist everywhere else on Earth. I made the point (I guess not very well) that no one pays an iota of attention to signs the likes of “stop” or “no turn on red.”
What happened? We now have more signs that are completely ignored. (There are now two “No turn on red” signs at MLK and W Street. Two are not better than one.) I said that only hitting folks in the pocketbook would drive any change. In other words, give us cameras! No cameras.
Every day, I make the trip to the land of plenty, a.k.a. Ward 6, to shop for almost anything since we have almost nothing in Anacostia. Ward 6 is a marvel of traffic control. There are so many little white stick-things that you cannot speed; it’s like maneuvering on a Candyland board. There are yellow-and-black-striped bumps, sometimes in the middle of an intersection, green bike lanes, regular speed bumps and smooth streets. But what else would I expect from a ward that has more grocery stores than I can count and orange bistro chairs in the newly bricked and terraced Metro Park Plaza?
Back over the bridge, I go home, white-knuckled as folks go through red lights like they don’t exist, sometimes whipping around other drivers just to get through a red light. Traffic is so backed up, we now have to go around several blocks just to get out of our own block. Cars dart out of the small feeder streets without warning or just bully their way into traffic.
We recently had red-painted bus lanes installed. This has hindered no one who feels like pulling over to the corner store (that is in the middle of the block) to stop and get a bag of chips. Daytime, nighttime, no matter. Bus gotta wait.
We know that the police are not going to enforce traffic laws. No one blames them. But to have nothing is not acceptable. It feels like one more instance of Ward 8 taking a back seat, so to speak, to everywhere else in the city. I guess we leave it all to the developers — which actually makes sense since the only folks directing traffic these days are the construction workers. No joke.
No rules for cars has pedestrians not believing in rules, either. Folks dart out from between parked cars, pay absolutely no attention to “walk” or “don’t walk” signs, walk in the street and dare you not to stop. But what do you expect? Without legitimately safe crosswalks or stop signs for that whole stretch of MLK, it’s just a free-for-all.
Guess what? Lives east of the river are just as precious as those in the rest of the city. We constantly feel devalued, and I, for one, am fed up with it. No more is “we have to do a study” acceptable. Our lives are in jeopardy from so many directions, it seems as though some stop signs and good crosswalks and a couple of cameras would go a long way toward rebuilding trust.
But I won’t hold my breath.
"Opinion" - Google News
August 06, 2021 at 09:02PM
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Opinion | Anacostia's missing traffic control - The Washington Post
"Opinion" - Google News
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