# D.C. commuters, check in! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 26, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505 "2003-06-26T13:45:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/21 "2003-06-26T17:32:53Z")
I’m really more of an Orange line girl… Thank God school is out and I didn’t have to do the Farragut North to Brookland thing yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Miabella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Miabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miabella)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/22 "2003-06-26T19:11:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*You would have been fine in Takoma Park itself. You would have taken the train all the way to the Takoma station. If you lived north of Takoma, though, you were in doo-doo. \*\* For some reason I thought the Red Line was shut down north of Fort Totten. The whole thing is just plain wacky. I wonder how fast he was going? I just hope he bought the insurance from Enterprise! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/23 "2003-06-26T19:26:58Z")
An eyewitness said he looked like he was doing about 80. My thinking is that he was trying to jump the tracks - all of them - and simply didn’t make it. ---
**Author:** ![Fin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@Fin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fin_man)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/24 "2003-06-26T19:28:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miabella \* > \*\*I just hope he bought the insurance from Enterprise! 😛 \*\* And Enterprise is the one that picks you up. Can you imagine that call. Enterprise Rep (ER): Enterprise, can I help you? Idiot Driver (ID): Um, yes. I need a pick up. ER: Ok, where are you? ID: Um, at the Metro. ER: Ok, which station? ID: Near the Silver Spring station. ER: What do you mean “near”? ID: Well, I’m on the tracks - the third rail actually - about 300 feet south of the Silver Spring Station. ER: Sorry, we don’t pick up there. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/25 "2003-06-26T19:33:31Z")
I live in Silver Spring and work in Bethesda, and the traffic on East-West Hwy last night was fine. _However_, one night a week or two ago, the traffic was _horrible._ I’m talking Sept. 11th, everyone-is-evacuating-the-city horrible. Solid backup from the exit of my office’s parking garage to the entrance of my apartment complex. Was there a big accident on the Beltway that I didn’t know about or something? Anyone remember? ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/26 "2003-06-26T19:36:56Z")
_gasp_ I missed my 666th post! ---
**Author:** ![Miabella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Miabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miabella)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/27 "2003-06-26T20:33:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\* My thinking is that he was trying to jump the tracks - all of them - and simply didn’t make it. \*\* What, like the Dukes of Hazzard? (cue Dixie music) The Pontiac Grand Am sure is no General Lee! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/28 "2003-06-26T21:02:36Z")
I half expected to hear a “yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,” but no go. ---
**Author:** ![kalex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dfb087/32.png) [@kalex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kalex)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/29 "2003-06-27T01:40:55Z")
Not only did this happen maybe 100 yards from my office window, but since I’m a traffic reporter, I got to talk about it for 5 frikkin hours. It was pretty impressive looking - the guy (who I understand was trying to kill himself) jumped three sets of tracks and the car wound up sitting across the Metro tracks. As for the car…let’s just say they won’t be getting their deposit back. The worst event in DC traffic (Excluding the nighmare that was 9/11) was the day a truck full of gunpowder overturned at the interchange of 95 and the beltway. That was a long day at work. ---
**Author:** ![Blueapple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blueapple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blueapple)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/30 "2003-06-27T18:43:04Z")
tramp: What school do you go to? Kalex: What about that afternoon a few years back when the guy attempted suicide on the Wilson Bridge, closing both loops of the beltway on the bridge for hours? ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/31 "2003-06-27T18:49:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kalex \* > Not only did this happen maybe 100 yards from my office window, but since I’m a traffic reporter, Which building do you work in cause I’m gonna moon ya some day. 😃 If that guy really was trying to kill him self then he could have done it, minus the fact that there is a good steel fence on the other side of the tracks, but he would have fallen 20-30 feet had he made it. Or baring that ended up in my garage. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/32 "2003-06-27T18:53:13Z")
Maybe he changed his mind at the last minute! Hey Edward… was that you I saw on NewsChannel8? I think they interviewed a dude with a garage. ---
**Author:** ![kalex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dfb087/32.png) [@kalex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kalex)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/33 "2003-06-28T00:51:06Z")
Ed- I work in the building with the Soho cafeteria (food by the pound!) on the ground level, so my office window is 15 stories above the Silver Spring Metro Station. (Sitting back, patiently waiting for mooning.) ---
**Author:** ![zimmdogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@zimmdogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimmdogg)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/34 "2003-06-28T01:02:07Z")
As I understand it, there was some damage to the tracks, especially to the high voltage rail. My fiancee had to brave the newbie bus riders at Metro center trying to get to silver spring. They had to have metro employees standing around just to get people on the bus. Lousy suburbanites who don’t ride buses. Sheesh. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/35 "2003-06-28T01:07:01Z")
Buses suck. You can’t even use SmarTrip on them yet. ---
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/36 "2003-06-28T01:43:12Z")
I go to Catholic University’s crappy law school… 🙂 The oasis of the ghetto in NE. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/37 "2003-06-28T01:49:10Z")
\*\* Kalex \*\* As a long time DC resident I remember the true worst day in DC traffic history, the Air Florida crash. That was the day the plane hit the 14th St. bridge. On the same day Metro had a fatal accident and fire shutting down most rail services. I was only a kid at the time, but I remember all our neighbors waiting for their spouses to get home. My father usually got home around 5:30, that night he didn’t get home until after midnight. The strange thing about traffic on 9/11 was how much better it was than I expected. My wife works in the city and was on her way home to the VA burbs. I was anxious and braced for it to be hours until she made it. It only took about 90 minutes to get home using metro and the buses. I am still surprised that for us it was so smooth. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/38 "2003-06-28T03:11:14Z")
**fruitbat** : as one who had to make his way from Farragut Square to the Mt. Vernon area by subway and car on that horrible day, I concur. Second place might go to that freak snowstorm a few years later (Veterans Day, 1987? I wasn’t here then, only read about it) where people got stranded overnight on I-295. **Kalex** : what station(s) do you cover traffic for? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tramp \* > **I’m really more of an Orange line girl…** _Orange Line girl, she’s been livin’ in her bright pretty world…_ 😉 > [@](#): > > What about that afternoon a few years back when the guy attempted suicide on the Wilson Bridge, closing both loops of the beltway on the bridge for hours? _Wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend…_ Yes, I _do_ have a song lyric for every occasion. I’d just started working at the Suitland Federal Center when that one happened. But since my commute is out Route 4 (Pennsylvania Ave. extended) into southern Maryland, my drive home wasn’t affected in the least. Almost _nothing_ ever messes up my evening commute! :D:D:D I was in sunny Florida, excavating my MIL’s living room, while your evening commutes were being messed up. (She’s a bit of a packrat.) I bet Route 4 was smooth sailing, as always. ---
**Author:** ![Miabella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Miabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miabella)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/39 "2003-06-30T13:09:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fruitbat \* > \*\* My wife works in the city and was on her way home to the VA burbs. I was anxious and braced for it to be hours until she made it. It only took about 90 minutes to get home using metro and the buses. \*\* Actually, it took me less than 50 minutes to get home on 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505/40 "2003-06-30T14:09:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*Maybe he changed his mind at the last minute! > > Hey Edward… was that you I saw on NewsChannel8? I think they interviewed a dude with a garage. \*\* No that wasn’t me. Sorry, I meant the garage under my building, not really “my” garage. There is about a 20’ wide gap between the building and the tracks, had he made it much further he would of had a nice fall. **kalex** I know SoHo well. I work over in the NOAA complex, near where they are building the new building. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-commuters-check-in/184505.md?page=3)