Can you explain? Should we be leaving the left lanes largely empty in Virginia and Maryland, or should we use all lanes, but then be technically risking a ticket for left-lane travel in Virginia? Does this only apply to certain state-funded roads? Thanks for your help. Now I see in the news that there is a plan to change this in Maryland to make left-lane travel illegal - and far more surprising, that there is some kind of similar law already on the books in Virginia.
#Dr. gridlock driver#
I thought that a good driver should stay left or in the middle of the four, fully occupied lanes, without too much lane-changing, and stay on the right for normal right-lane exit and entry ramps (or, in Virginia, occasionally stay on the left for left-lane exit ramps). Let's say it's a four-lane swath of the Beltway or 395. However, I thought that in our vastly overcrowded DC area, in both Maryland and Virginia, it was legal and expected to use all the lanes of the highway all the time. In other parts of the country, I know that it's absolutely wrong and off-limits to use the left lane as a travel lane, and you can get a ticket and points for doing so. Gridlock, sorry to report that I am confused. Since Columbia Island is in the District of Columbia, I know it's not a VDOT issue, but I don't know whether I need to contact the Park Police or someone else.
#Dr. gridlock drivers#
It's a pain both because they obstruct the traffic to do this and because other drivers then start using the gaps, which both slows traffic and causes near-misses (we almost got hit this morning by someone who swerved through the cones). But for the past week, charter bus drivers have been stopping in traffic and getting out to move the cones out of the way so they can go around the circle to the cemetery.
Do you know whom I should contact about a problem on Memorial Circle (the Columbia Island end of Memorial Bridge that many people think of as the "Virginia end")? Specifically, during the morning rush hour there are sawhorses and cones put up so that traffic coming up Route 27 from the Pentagon must go onto the bridge and cannot access the circle. But I can't let you leave without a final question. Gridlock, first let me say thanks for all the informative columns, blog entries, tweets, and chats over the years. I think we'll see that this is a generational thing, with younger drivers feeling completely comfortable with the new driving aids and the automatic settings.ĭr.
#Dr. gridlock how to#
For example, I haven't learned how to use the backup camera in a rental car, and like the commenter, I'd prefer to have the headlights under manual control.
#Dr. gridlock license#
I got my driver's license in 1968 (in Texas), so it's probably true that I'm attracted to simplicity when it comes to vehicle controls. And it's one of the many topics where I can't tell you if the behavior constitutes a trend.īut I am attracted to the theory that drivers of newer cars are confused about the headlight settings. This is one of the many topics where we can't do anything more than speculate about behavior. Then we moved into discussions of why some drivers don't turn their lights on at all. It started with complaints about drivers who don't turn their headlights on when they turn on their windshield wipers, as the safety laws require. Here's another topic that we've talked about lately in columns and Monday chats. (This procedure is not a 100 percent guarantee on safety.) Don't step out till you're sure a driver knows you're there and is stopping. Otherwise, we'd stand paralyzed every time we get to the curb. The only thought I can offer on the issue of how a pedestrian can stay safe is, "Trust but verify." You have to believe that most people will at least come close to obeying traffic laws.
But they pay no attention to what - or who - might be on the right in the direction they're turning. They look left, because they want to make sure they won't be hit by an oncoming car. What I see even more frequently are drivers just rolling through right turns on red without stopping. The traveler says people make illegal turns on red where a sign prohibits that. Note that this traveler is not saying, "I almost got hit while jaywalking." No, the traveler is describing an all-too-common situation in which the traveler is doing the right thing and feels threatened by overzealous drivers.Ī person can't walk too far around here without sharing that experience. I think that's achievable - even before the self-driving vehicles arrive. The District is among the communities worldwide that have signed onto the Vision Zero program, to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. One of the big changes I've seen over the past decade is an increasing awareness that we need to protect all travelers. I want to start here and invite your responses, because this is a universal issue.
0 kommentar(er)
