Anyone from DC?

[sarasquirrel]

as in washington dc lol

im here til saturday. it seems nice. some crazy people, but that would be a different thread haha.

i haz question. it may not be JUST DC becuase i know ive seen in in providence,ri

on the one way streets, pedestrians will get a walk signal to cross. and the traffic running parallel will have green. yet, they can also turn.


so a lit up walk signal, and its ok for cars to come thru as well (obviously if no one is right there lol. dont hit anyone!) lol

i dont know. i just dont get it. can someone explain this?

[Solumina]

It means that you can turn but the pedestrians (in crosswalks) have the right of way. It pretty much comes down to this: the lights and crosswalks are all on timers, no sensors or anything like most places have, so the crosswalks and lights will all do their thing even if nobody is there to use them (even at 3:00am when there is no traffic other than your one little car you will still get stuck at lights). I believe this is something that they are trying to change but I haven’t lived there for a few years (and actually lived a bit west of the city so I only drove there every once in a while) so I’m not really sure.

[Sapphire Silk]

I grew up in Southern Maryland and used to go into the District all the time. Also be careful of this: there is no right turn on red in the District of Columbia. You CAN turn right on red in Maryland and Virginia, unless there is a sign posted saying no right on red.

My advice would be to not drive in the District if you can help it. The traffic is god awful, and the maps change frequently due to all the roadwork and traffic pattern changes than go on all the time. Rush hour is a nightmare--stay off US 50 during rush hour.

Use the Metro. They keep it clean, and it is very safe. Rates are reasonable. Bus system is pretty good too. Metro will take you pretty much anywhere you need to go.

Southeast and North east DC are the ghettos. Be careful . . . you can run into some bad neighborhoods just a few blocks away from the Mall. Georgetown is nice, and a fun place.

Enjoy your trip! There are a lot of fun and cool things to do in DC.

[Lachrymose]

Also be careful of this: there is no right turn on red in the District of Columbia.

From the DC Driving Manual, pg. 50:

"Where there is a steady red traffic signal, unless a sign prohibiting a turn is in place, you may cautiously enter the intersection and make a right turn after first making a full stop and yielding the right-of-way to pedestrians and other traffic lawfully using the intersection."

http://www.dmv.dc.gov/info/forms/dltest_pdf.shtm

[sarasquirrel]

I grew up in Southern Maryland and used to go into the District all the time. Also be careful of this: there is no right turn on red in the District of Columbia. You CAN turn right on red in Maryland and Virginia, unless there is a sign posted saying no right on red.

My advice would be to not drive in the District if you can help it. The traffic is god awful, and the maps change frequently due to all the roadwork and traffic pattern changes than go on all the time. Rush hour is a nightmare--stay off US 50 during rush hour.

Use the Metro. They keep it clean, and it is very safe. Rates are reasonable. Bus system is pretty good too. Metro will take you pretty much anywhere you need to go.

Southeast and North east DC are the ghettos. Be careful . . . you can run into some bad neighborhoods just a few blocks away from the Mall. Georgetown is nice, and a fun place.

Enjoy your trip! There are a lot of fun and cool things to do in DC.

yea we've been walking for the most part. though today we took the car to go over to arlington and come back through georgetown (had to get some cupcakes)

we leave tomorrow. kinda sucks, but we all have to go back to work lol.

oh yea. and the traffic. INSANE cabbies flying everywhere and buses too!

and today we experienced the no left turns between x-time and y-time. booo