Crazy Traffic Cop

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Originally posted by SlugsB1tch2Much

In fact, I used to be a slug well before I discovered this website back in 2005, so thanks anyways for calling me a troll, so moving on:

If you can handle this, think of traffic as a continuum. If buses stop to pickup passengers flow of traffic suffers noticably since one lane goes down and other cars merge and move into flowing lanes thus causing an impeding rippling effect. This is the effect of one bus.

Think of the effect drivers will have when they illegally stop and grid-lock traffic to pick up slugs. When buses stop, they pick up at least 10 people. When drivers stop to pick up slugs, they pick up, what? One, Two, maybe three at most?

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You claim to be a former slug but don't seem to know much about slugging.

Look at 14th St. The right lane, during rush hour, is full of buses (dropping off in morning, picking up in afternoon. Cars avoid the right lane all the way down/up, except if they need to turn, are picking up sluggers, or are the jerks who pull into the right lane to pass three cars before forcing their way back in to avoid a bus making a stop.

The only time when slug drivers create more gridlock is if they 1) double park, which I haven't seen happen; or 2) force a bus to make a stop while angled across 2 lanes (can't get fully over to the right lane)- occasionally happens at 14th New York in the afternoon, due in part to the Omniride buses making a tight turn onto 14th from H.

If a car was parked on 14th for 5 minutes waiting to passengers, that would be another story. But afternoon demand for rides seems to always surpass the supply, in my experience, so I don't think this happens very often.


-Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt.

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Originally posted by Elemental

That might be true for the 14th & NY lines, but there have been plenty of times at 14th & G when I as a driver have had to wait for riders to show up.

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Wow! I'm in the wrong spot. I need to be at 14th & G.

Having said that, slugs take an average of 1 min or so to get in to a car. The time that it would take for the police/traffic cop to speak to the drive and cite the driver would cause a bigger back-up.

I say nothing can back-up traffic like the police or traffic cop in their attempt to direct traffic.

Binkles

Yesterday (Thursday, 4/2) afternoon, at the GSA 7th Street pick-up point, a driver was picking up slugs for Horner Road. A female traffic cop pulled up behind her as the slug-pax were loading, and started writing the ticket. As she was writing, other cars had to pull into the left-hand thru lane to get around her and then swing back into the pick-up lane for us.

This officer *caused* a traffic hazard with her idiocy, writing this ticket for some violation, while in the 2 minutes she was doing so, at least half-a-dozen cars performed the same operation this driver was being ticketed for - and all in apparent disregard of the many of us in the line who were trying to inform her of the fact that this was a slug pick-up routine and she was making a mistake.

At the same time, this officer was also ignoring a vehicle accident at the corner of 7th and D, where some real safety benefit to the people might have been provided.

The ticketed driver's name is Amanda Williams, and I hope to hear from her in a few days when she gets her court date, as I have volunteered to go with her in support of the slug operation in DC.

Further, if the District's law enforcement efforts are targeting the slug operation, I believe it is imperative on those of us who commute into the city every day to make our voices heard. I am certain the District would be very apprehensive about the prospect of losing the revenue that Northern Virginia workers bring into the city if our commuting options are infringed and we are forced to "boycott" - say, by tele-commuting, for example.

I will post here when I hear from Ms. Williams, for those of you who may be interested in providing moral support for her to fight this ridiculous ticket.

Here is the response I recieved from DDot in refrence to my question about drivers pulling over to pick up slugs:

Thank you for contacting the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) concerning the Traffic Control Officers and their policy regarding drivers pulling over to pick up riders for the evening HOV lanes. We appreciate your feedback and concerns.

DDOT's Traffic Control Officers are instructed and trained to work with motorists. Therefore, while ideally they may not want to ask drivers to move, during situations where the vehicles are standing for a period of time, the officers will speak with the motorist and advise them to move or drive around the block. The objective of the Traffic Control Officers is to keep traffic moving as efficiently as possible, thus keeping as many lanes open is essential.

Hopefully, this has provided some clarification regarding how DDOT Traffic Control Officers operate.

If you have any further questions, please contact our Mr. James Strange on (202) 671-2650 and he will gladly assist you further.