DC Traffic
April 24th, 2007
This morning I had my first taste of driving into the District. It’s one thing to casually drive on a Sunday to sightsee, but during rush hour it’s a whole other ballgame.
Here’s my take-aways from today:
- Toll Roads are not faster
- If the speed limit is 65MPH, 80MPH is the acceptable speed.
- When the great state of VA reminds you that the speed limit is “RADAR ENFORCED,” the acceptable speed limit is 78 MPH.
- Despite the sale and use of Radar Detectors are illegal in District of Columbia and Virginia land, you are presented with signs reminding you.
- Keeping a “safe distance” from the vehicle in front of you is not an option.
- Everyone hates Maryland drivers for good reason.
- Maryland drivers hate Virginia drivers.
- DC drivers hate Virginia and Maryland drivers.
- When merging lanes, you must always compete for the #1 spot, otherwise you’ll be #5.
- When traffic is moving at 80MPH, stopping short to cut across five lanes is not uncommon.
- With all the money people invest in their luxury vehicles, somehow everyone is reading a paper, on a conference call, or checking their Blackberry all at once.
- No one is caught for speeding. Seriously — despite the bad reputation state police have here.
- The Outer Loop and Inner Loop are merely axises of confusion.
- When passing someone, you don’t actually advance further than a few inches past someone, as you want a photo finish.
- LOL, Electric Cars. You’re kidding right?
- If miss your exit, rest assured you’ll find it as you complete your lap again.
- Lane markings are just suggestions drive wherever the hell you want.
- If your light changes to yellow, go full throttle because it’ll be 8 minutes until you can go again.
- Pull over to the left if you need to take that necessary cell phone call. (WTF?)
- Flat tire? Call AAA. (Seriously, I saw this guy turning his lug wrench the wrong way on his flat tire on his BMW).
- If you don’t have GPS, you’re screwed. With no sense of boundary or direction, you’ll be lost in minutes.
Well that’s my observations. Whether they are legal or not (or politically correct) is up to you. I made it in and out of DC, but damn, you have to be crazy to actually take that commute daily. If you do, I feel for you. All these references were made in humor so see it as that. In contrast, this is a considerably accurate description of Phoenix, Arizona traffic.
[tags]Washington DC, Traffic, I395, I495, Virginia, VA, MD, Driving, Toll Roads, Humor[/tags]
Listen to this man- DC traffic is so bad it even broke his spell checker!
Joe, were there any toll lanes set up that used wireless systems like SpeedPass and if so, how did traffic in those lanes compare to the ones with a surly municipal employee sitting inside a booth?
In Manhattan and London they are actually charging a fee to enter the city during busy times, using automated cameras that send you a bill (unless you use an RFID-based “subscription” type service) to cut down on the number of cars in the city during those times. Given your recent experience, what do you think about that kind of system?
Junkyard Willie,
The lanes with the “SpeedPass” or RFID were about twice as long as the “Full Service” lanes.
Some politicians will cite that using mandatory RFID tags to track how your vehicle in the city is necessary to prevent terrorism. (Yeah, I used that T-word again). I think that that expecation that RFID tags on cars would reduce terrorism is completely propaganda.
The only purpose an vehicle RFID tagging system would be, is to collect money from from tax payers, and validate that with this tracking system they reduced speeding and other moving violations “dramatically,” making it much safer to drive.
I’m against it, but if the tax payers want it — they should get it. I’d like to think not under the false pretense of reducing terrorism — because that’s just bull.
I can only pray that technology like Automated License Plate Recognition, can be used for good. I think this has great potential, but also great risk for abuse. Check it out. What do you think about it?
I can see how the inner and outer loop thing can be a bit confusing to newcomers. Maybe they should rename them the Clockwise and Counter-clockwise loops?