Can we talk about driving? I know, I know. It’s been the cranky topic du jour for years, but can we just puhleez use a turn signal once in a while? Since I live down where many of our fine law enforcement personnel go to target shoot, many are on their cell phones, trying to navigate the twists and turns of Old Lynchburg Rd, and not doing such a hot job. No wonder none of them are giving citations to other people on a hand-held cellphone while driving.
We’ve talked about the areas to avoid since the students have come back to town. Whether the students are here or not, Barracks is still a polite driver’s entrance into hell. Another potential gray-hair inducer is anywhere on 29 between Ivy and Main - students walk into the crosswalks without looking, talking on the phone or with earphones on. I’m surprised I don’t see more students coming into my place of business as organ donors. Even driving at 25 mph (which few people have experienced except for the nano-second between 0 and 40 mph) it’s tough to stop in time for Muffy blithely chatting on a conference call with Emily and Keesha about the hot guy playing basketball at AFC. Make that next-to-impossible after dark. Message: pay attention to your surroundings, please.
Oh, and my cranky-old-lady comment for the day: Stop signs mean stop, as in, the tires on your car stop moving completely. I guess everyone knows our lovely (and previously mentioned law enforcement) traffic officer (last I heard there’s only one) can’t be everywhere to actually enforce the law. So, my comment will disappear into the ethers.
The meaning of yield: you know, that sign at the end of an on-ramp for the 250 bypass - it means you stop if someone else is coming, not the other way around. If no one else is coming, go ahead on your merry way.
I saved the best for last. Be thoughtful, polite, kind. When you see me walking my dog at the side of the road, don’t aim for us. When you see a line of cyclists on the side of the road, slow down, and make sure there’s room to pass without them soiling their bike shorts. At 5:10 on 29 North approaching Hydraulic, let someone make that right turn out of the parking lot to go ahead of you. You don’t have to do it everytime for everyone, but now and then promotes good karma. And dammit, put that turn signal on before you make the turn! Sermon over.
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Tagged as: Charlottesville, Gripes, Idiots, Public Transit, Traditions
Why are 29/250 ramps so short? Completely agree about the yield, and also wish more thru cars would anticipate the entering cars and stay in the left lane around the Park and Barracks exits. I also agree about students crossing University Ave without looking. It’s not just a UVA-thing. I lived in a city with college students that did the same thing with major roads around the campus.
As a regular pedestrian, I am nearly hit by a car every few weeks. I’ve been hit once. Sometimes–when I am already in the crosswalk–drivers will even have the audacity to swear at me as they cut me off, and drivers almost never use signals. Someone will run almost any given red light in town.
Are you seriously suggesting people drive to fast around here? Please tell me where the fast moving/driving people are, I’d love to find them.
On-ramps are short because the speed limit is 40 at that particular part of 250 (yes, 40 mph). It goes to 55 about 50 yards ahead, but everyone is anticipating the 55 mph about a mile east of there.
I guess we could all make the argument that there are some poor drivers, poor pedestrians, poor cyclists among the good. I got an in-your-face from a cyclist who said he’d never seen an impolite cyclist! One ride down JPA between 4:30 and 5:30, and you’ll find tons of helmet-less, non-signaling, weaving between cars on the wrong side of the road cyclists. We definitely do have people who speed in Albemarle County. They’re stuck behind everyone else who is on a cellphone chatting, or the LOL (little old lady) who can’t see above the steering wheel. There’s a notorious LOL driving a white Prius about town, and she has an accident record that could turn your hair whiter than her’s.
The point I was trying to make is that enforcement is just non-existent - for ALL vehicles and pedestrians. The dearth of law enforcement personnel is frightening, and I’m sure there have been plenty of nation-wide stories about it. There’s a section of highway in Georgia where it is easily the American Autobahn. Law enforcement officials state they have no one to cover the area, so drivers speed dangerously with impunity. The MVA stats are there to prove it.