June 28, 2006
Deluge '06 Reporting: D.C. Wet and Crazy
Yesterday this intrepid DCist reporter took to the street on his bike, searching high and low for rain-related news. It didn't take long--traffic alone became THE post-work story. Traffic was backed up everywhere from Georgetown to Capitol Hill, with cars and buses routinely stuck in the middle of intersections as lights turned red. Traffic seemed heaviest along H Street from 17th Street to New York Avenue, with stopped cars clogging every patch of road and only inching towards their destinations. The night's highlight may have come on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, where we finally answered a question that has dogged us for years--What happens if a car gets caught over those retractable barriers? The answer is priceless.
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Isn't this at least the SECOND time a police vehicle of some sort (maybe not from the same agency) has gotten stuck on these since January?
holy crap, what's the full story behind that cop car picture?
y'all were scooped on this.
those things are called bollards, i know because the dept of ed is constantly closing one entrance or another of its parking garage for "bollard repair"
Z,
I know I've seen a secret service vehicle stuck on those before (maybe in January). They came up directly under the cruiser's front bumper.
It's unclear if the vehicle is stuck or if it was deliberately placed there due to a failure of the retracable bollards.
Unclear to whom? This was more than likely an accident. I don't think the vehicle is "stuck", per se; it could easily just roll forward and be off the "bollards" (if that is their real name), but at the risk of considerable damage to the rear end of the cruiser.
When the thingamajigs are stuck (which happens at least once every week it seems), they just park a SS cruiser or van in front of the entry way, parallel to the row of posts, not on top of them. When the repair guys come to fix them, they often use their van to block the entry way.
From this here architect, yes, they are indeed called bollards.
Call Rescue 1 on professional courtesy grounds (if they're not otherwise occupied,) high-lift airbag the car, drop the bollards, deflate the bags.
Not sure how safe anything less ambitious would be...that car should be on struts or cribbing anyway, no matter what...
Yes, this is at least the second time this has happened. I have pics to prove it. The last time the front end was completely impaled.
Though not the same type of barrier, the Pentagon security barricades have a pretty good history of malfunctioning and taking out foreign VIPs: http://www.cnn.com/US/9809/21/pentagon.accident/
What no Kenndey jokes!?!