April 18, 2007
Mixed Signals at D.C. Intersections - Updated
This weekend DCist began noticing a handful of the city's "walk" signs knocked completely off-kilter. The storms and fierce winds appear to have moved several crossing lights out of alignment with crosswalks, in some cases leaving pedestrians clueless as to who has the right of way. We saw tourists, as well as long-time residents, hesitatingly searching for the proper signal at the intersection of Florida Ave./22nd St. and Q St. in Northwest. The walk signal is currently pointed 90 degrees in the wrong direction, substantially out of their line of sight. Eventually, several jaywalked diagonally across the intersection or just waited for a lull in traffic.
In a city already facing serious pedestrian safety issues, it seems essential that walkers are given proper signals at each intersection. Of course, the city can't be everywhere with repair crews, but when we called the Mayor's call center (202-727-1000) to report the misaligned lights, a helpful woman said trucks would be dispatched "within two hours" to take a look a the problem signs. Twenty-four hours later none of the effected lights have been repositioned.
Maybe we'll bring a list of broken walk signs to the Department of Transportation's Citywide Pedestrian Master Plan Public Meeting on May 3.
UPDATE
A quick survey this morning finds seven formerly misaligned lights fixed! Please call 202-727-1000 with your own list of similarly broken walk signs.
Photo by the author.
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Same for 14th and G, NW. In the past, I'd see these off-kilter signals and blame them on vandals or pranksters because sometimes they'd be waaaay out of alignment.
There are MANY crosswalk signals out of alignment, this has been a problem for as long as I have lived here (4+ years)
But if you want to live on the edge - try crossing Florida at 18th NW - the crosswalk says walk, but the light is still green. An accident waiting to happen.
DCist--Why do you incessantly use the royal "we?" Did four people call the Mayor's Call Center?
A simple "I," or "this reporter" would work so much better.
I have noticed this for years now. This isn't new and just one of the "benefits" of living in DC.
Re: "royal we" -- it's customary for news sources and reporters to use "we" when using the first person. I don't see any difference here -- Lindsay is speaking for the entire DCist, after all.
They're also skewed in the wrong direction at Q and 20th by the Dupont North Metro. I had always attributed these to pranksters or something too. It's hard for me to believe that they were blown out of the way, as they look pretty heavy. Then again, the wind was pretty fierce.
The wind is not to be underestimated, especially 40-60 MPH gusts almost constantly for 48 hours. But, on the other hand, those windy conditions are highly unusual, and I've seen signals out of alignment many times in all kinds of weather in my 16 years here.
I've had some dealings with dDot regarding this issue in my neighborhood. One of their explanations is that in addition to the wind, trucks are the most common causes of the signals being off kilter. Apparently, the signals are at nearly the exact same height as the side view mirror on box trucks...
If you see one, and can get a reach on it, they're usually pretty easy to knock back into place.
I notice this all over town. Sometimes I think it's a freak weather problem, but more often I think it's the result of a big truck cutting a corner too close. I will say that I hadn't thought of pranksters...what is the point of that kind of "prank"?
It's called the "editorial we."
The crosswalk signal at Kalorama and Conn. has been askew for a while as well. My favorite thing, though, still has to be the walk signal countdowns that suddenly jump from 30 seconds to 0. If you ever hear of a female pedestrian run down in front of the Kennedy Warren, then please remember me kindly when I'm gone.
Try the DC website... www.dc.gov
There's a link for the Service Request Center.
I've used this to report misaligned pedestrian signals and they've been fixed within a day.
Why are you fools waiting until that meeting? Call 727-1000 or use src.dc.gov to report the pedestrian signals. MC Dean makes necessary adjustments and repairs very quickly.
For future reference... it's called "heads turned".
Thank-ya.
Prank? The heads are way too tight for anyone to pull that kind of prank. They'd need a bucket truck and some tools... and I don't think pranksters are going to have either of those.
or a baseball bat
Affected. Not effected.