Editor’s note:聽Jim Battagliese is the director of Traffic and Weather Operations at 海角精品黑料.
WASHINGTON 鈥� Earlier this week, 海角精品黑料 Traffic Reporter Bob Marbourg and I were in the 海角精品黑料 Traffic Center talking about the blizzard and the effects on the area and one story pointed out just how impatient and dangerous local drivers can be.
I told Bob my experience driving to the station. Someone behind me wanted to turn right onto Rt. 7 and became impatient, with the right turn lane blocked with a mountain of snow. They proceeded to lean on their horn and then went around me and the car in front of me, to make a right turn on red. Of course, as I watched this illegal maneuver unfold in front of me, the light turned green, the car in front of me started to go straight through the intersection and narrowly missed the Honda that didn鈥檛 want to wait for the light to turn green.
Don鈥檛 be this kind of traffic jerk.
Earlier this week, Bob and I both agreed that the . Bob said it on the air during his next traffic report, in the hopes that officials were listening. The problems we could see were many and weren鈥檛 just limited to the District or local roads. On the interstates, lanes would disappear or merge areas were blind because of giant mounds of snow.
We noticed people driving at highway speed on the Capital Beltway or Interstate 66 when their lane would disappear because of the snow and they couldn鈥檛 stop or merge, so they would hit the snow mound and roll over.
That wasn鈥檛 the worst of what we were going to see.
The worst of it came later in the week, when officials didn鈥檛 heed our warning and sent people back to work.
By Wednesday, it was the local roads that were hit hard because the snow removal process wasn鈥檛 fully completed. Neighborhoods were plowed enough for people to venture out to the stores and some decided it was OK to get to work and that created gridlock situations around the area and the angry phone calls started coming in to 海角精品黑料鈥檚 Traffic Center.
Motorists expected that they would be able to drive normally on the roads, despite our warnings that the roads were not yet ready for a rush hour. Right and left turn lanes hadn鈥檛 been plowed. Two-lane roads were suddenly squeezed down to a lane or a lane and a half, snarling traffic for miles and, in the process, affecting other nearby roads.
As more people headed out on the roads, what we were afraid would happen, happened.
It was 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, and we were still in the midst of a full blown rush hour. By 1 p.m., it had finally started to ease. Evening rush hour wouldn鈥檛 be any better.
During the entire day Wednesday, we dealt with angry phone calls, asking why we weren鈥檛 talking about their road. We tried to explain it鈥檚 not just your road 鈥� it鈥檚 every road.
This was no longer the normal traffic report about delays on the highways and a few accidents 鈥� there were hourslong backups on Reston Parkway, Norbeck Road, Georgia Avenue, Canal Road, Massachusetts Avenue, River Road, Rt. 123, East-West Highway, Branch Avenue 鈥� and the list went on and on. It didn鈥檛 matter where you were.
Despite the warnings, people were out on the roads and surprised that they couldn鈥檛 go anywhere and didn鈥檛 know why.
There was a snow-removal crew working on the Beltway鈥檚 Outer Loop, near Tyson鈥檚, blocking the left side of the highway, which backed up traffic into Maryland, onto Southbound I-270 to Germantown, which was barely moving. In Montgomery County, a snow removal crew was working on Rt. 29, just inside the Beltway, which tied up Southbound Rt. 29 toward Burtonsville, prompting one caller to scream, 鈥渢hey shouldn鈥檛 be allowed to do this!鈥�
We just had one of the worst blizzards to hit the D.C. area in almost 100 years, yet people couldn鈥檛 understand why life couldn鈥檛 simply snap back to normal.
The 海角精品黑料 Traffic Center got reports of some of the worst outbursts of human behavior. Even Bob called someone a 鈥渟elf-entitled jackass鈥� for driving up the shoulder of the Beltway and almost hitting a highway worker trying to clear an accident.
There was anger at the road crews, anger at city or county officials and anger at fellow motorists 鈥� some of it justified, most of it not. I鈥檝e seen people on snow-covered streets playing games of chicken with other motorists because they feel they should have the right of way over the other person.
We just had 2- 3 feet of snow dumped on a region that has a problem when a thunderstorm rolls through. We all need to take a step back and realize that the area needs time to rebound from the Blizzard of 2016.
If you鈥檙e out on the road Thursday, instead of being that person stubbornly playing chicken with another person because you feel you鈥檙e entitled, take a deep breath and when you make eye contact with that other driver, smile and wave instead of flipping them off. Don鈥檛 block the box or be rude to other drivers. Remember, we鈥檙e all trying to get to work or home to see our families.
Maybe, with a little patience and kindness, we can show the rest of the country that D.C. really can function; it鈥檚 just Capitol Hill that鈥檚 dysfunctional 鈥� not the people who call this area home.
