That WTOP article mentions the traffic control officers. I've seen plenty of people either ignoring them or arguing with them. Last week I was walking to the Metro and at the intersection of 19th & L one of the traffic control officers told a jaywalker to get back on the sidewalk (the light was about to turn) and the jaywalker started cursing and acting like "who the hell do you think you are." (In case anyone might wonder, the jaywalker was a white woman who appeared to be in her late 20s and the traffic control officer was a black woman who appeared to be 10 to 15 years older.) My reaction was, "Good for the traffic control officer."
In my fantasy world, the people directing traffic at D.C. intersections would be armed Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, not the DDOT Traffic Control Officers.
Additionally, the MPD would re-establish its Traffic Branch (shuttered during one of the terms of late former Mayor-for-Life Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr.) to supply traffic officers to do traffic directing, general traffic enforcement, crash investigation (especially those crashes with serious injury or death), commercial vehicle enforcement; and tactical targeting of crotch rocket motorcycles, dirt bikes, "hoopdie" cars and "summer" cars (the goal being to get such vehicles off the streets and ownership forfeited, and in some cases their operators led away in handcuffs).
The Traffic Branch would also be involved in efforts to make D.C. streets safer for bikes and pedestrians (in spite of much talk about this, I get the impression that most MPD officers have little interest in the subject).
The traffic has definitely been worse these past couple of weeks than in past years. I don't know whether it's due to Metrorail's problems, ruder drivers, frustration with the traffic causing more illegal behavior, or (most likely, in my view) all of the above plus other factors. I was driving this week because I was working longer hours, going in early and coming home later, and I've noticed there seems to be a lot more rude behavior just for the sake of being rude. It's like people are so conditioned to have the MFFY attitude that they act that way even when there's no reason for it. The other thing I REALLY don't understand is how people get outraged when you honk at them. If you don't move within a few seconds of the light going green, then I'm going to beep my horn because I assume you're not paying attention; if you then do it again at the next light, I will honk the horn (as opposed to beeping it). Some people become enraged even at the beep of the horn. Yesterday afternoon I could see the guy in front of me playing with his phone, and when he didn't move I beeped the horn; he then proceeded to give me the finger and to try to brake-check me multiple times before we even reached the light. WTF??? Your little text message does not get priority over the rest of us getting through the green light!
The above are examples of "D.C. driving with an attitude," which in some cases comes pretty close to what could result in a reckless driving charge if observed by police in Virginia.
The parking enforcement needs to do more to deal with the delivery trucks blocking lanes during rush hours. Plenty of downtown streets have no-parking restrictions during the afternoon rush hour until 6:30, but it's hardly unusual on a three-lane street to find both the right and left lanes blocked by trucks, choking everyone down to a single lane.
The D.C. Department of Public Works (DCDPW) Parking Enforcement operation was established by the late former Mayor-for-Life in his first term, in 1979 or 1980 for two reasons:
(1) to collect more parking fine revenue from non-D.C. residents; and
(2) to provide more D.C. municipal employment.
Note that traffic congestion relief or traffic control is not on the list above, though sometimes the DCDPW does ticket and even tow vehicles that are blocking traffic.
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Topic: District of Columbia (Read 362760 times)