California roadside memorial. Photo by George_Washington.

Really mean holiday streets

A 74-year-old woman was getting out of her car to put flowers on her daughter’s

granddaughter’s roadside memorial in Henrico, when a driver hit her pickup and killed her. … A driver killed an Arlington woman over the weekend … And a drunk Howard County teen killed his friend after veering off the road Sunday morning. (Post) … Car crashes killed 30 people in California over the weekend, including a driver who “raced through a red light” and killed a family of four. (LA Times)  

Traffic cameras blah blah blah

Some friends or relatives must have complained to the Examiner’s Alan Sunderman about tickets over Thanksgiving dinner, because he cranked out one of those cookie-cutter pieces quoting a bunch of people annoyed about parking tickets or automated speed cameras and AAA’s Lon Anderson whining about how oppressed the poor drivers are. At one gathering over the weekend, some family friends brought up automated cameras, but when I noted that they reduce fatal crashes, it shifted the tenor of the discussion. Try it next time, Alan. (Examiner)  

We’re paying for their cars

99 members of the House of Representatives have car leases funded by taxpayers, including a huge Cadillac DeVille big enough to fit a desk for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and $765/month for progressive transportation advocate Pete DeFazio

Diana DeGette, who’s next to DeFazio on the list and Streetsblog got mixed up. They even use these vehicles to travel to press conferences a block away. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill)  

Youth pushed into train

A young man was pushed into the side of a Metro train and fell to the tracks platform at Gallery Place during an “altercation.” (WMATA) … Get ready for bunches of late night delays for midweek track work and weekends except for holiday weekends. (DCist) … And 30 MetroAccess drivers fired for using cell phones

have been rehired as a compromise to adopt a zero-tolerance policy going forward. (Examiner)  

‘Round about Loudoun

Loudoun is installing “modern roundabouts” to smoothly move traffic without requiring grade-separated interchanges. Everyone from planners to Smart Growth advocates to most drivers are pleased, though some drivers are still getting confused, for now. Reporter James Hohmann still doesn’t mention pedestrians or bicycles at all, though sadly in Loudoun there aren’t many. (Post)  

Jim Lehrer, transit aficionado

An article about changing the PBS NewsHour format notes that Jim Lehrer was wearing a Metro Transit sweater “in an office festooned with bus depot signs.” (Post)