DC's Pedestrian Laws: Drivers Pay Attention

This summary of the District of Columbia's pedestrian laws (below) was published on the Palisades listserv by Erik Gaull.  It's the best and clearest explanation of what obligations drivers have to pedestrians, and vice versa.

If you're interested in knowing what changes are coming to enhance pedestrian safety, you can read the DC Department of Transportation's pedestrian safety plan. Connecticut Avenue in Northwest DC has its own pedestrian safety organization, Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action, which has several excellent safety initiatives.

Holiday Traffic and How to Avoid It

"If you're heading out of town this weekend, you can expect heavy traffic on the roads." Dog bites man story, right? Not only is every holiday weekend a bad time to drive, but the roads are congested every day in the DC area.

What can you do about the traffic if you can't afford your own private helicopter and home heliport?  What you can do is to check the traffic before you put your car in drive. With a little heads up, you can avoid the worst roads and chose alternate routes. There are several websites that can give you a preview of what lies ahead. The best place to start is with the District of Columbia traffic cams. Take a peek at the local streets before you head out. There's almost nothing worse than starting out on a long drive, only to have it take 45 minutes just to get to the Beltway.

Avoid J Street in Washington, DC Today

An alert from the District Goverment was sent today about traffic disruption in downtown DC.  Warning:  Avoid downtown around J Street.  

Fortunately, there's no easier street to avoid!  (To our non-District of Columbia friends:  There is no J Street in DC.  But we'll keep away from that general area of downtown Washington, anyway.)

From: AlertDC [ALERT.EMA.DC.GOV] 

Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 3:10:14 PM 
To: Transportation Alert Recipients 
Subject: Traffic Delays in Downtown 
 
Traffic is severely disrupted in area where 14th & 15th Sts NW intersect J-M Sts, due to ongoing police activity. Avoid this area.  

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