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Health & Fitness

An Accident Waiting to Happen: Old Georgetown Road & Cordell Avenue

Traffic control needed at downtown Bethesda intersection to help pedestrians and prevent accidents

            Last weekend, I had an illuminating experience at Old Georgetown Road & Cordell Avenue near downtown Bethesda, an intersection that I have long believed to be an accident waiting to happen. My wife and I were traveling in a car southbound in the left lane of Old Georgetown Road. In front of me, at Cordell, two cars were at a standstill. I assumed the first car was waiting to turn left onto Cordell, but I couldn’t understand why they were holding there, as there was no competing northbound traffic at the moment. I could have changed lanes or honked but instead waited.

            In a few moments, I realized that the first car was waiting for pedestrians to cross at the intersection. After they had crossed, the two cars pulled away. Meanwhile, another car had pulled up behind me and a pedestrian, a young man, had stepped to the side of the sidewalk, also waiting to cross.

            While waiting to give the young man an opportunity to cross, I was loudly honked by the car behind me—who couldn’t imagine what I was waiting for, it being very unusual in the DC area for a car to wait for a pedestrian. I am often a pedestrian and so am more conscious than most about motorist courtesy.

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            As the young man crossed in front of me, he waved his arm over his head a number of times to thank me for my courtesy and send a message to the honking motorist. I very much appreciated that gesture, as I get shaken up when I am honked.

            In addition to emphasizing the importance of respect for pedestrians, the incident also reminded me that I have long thought that intersection to be an accident waiting to happen, not only for pedestrians but also for cars. I would be surprised if many accidents haven’t happened there already, but I haven’t looked into the statistics.

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            It is quite difficult for pedestrians to cross at that intersection, with traffic on both sides of Old Georgetown Road’s five lanes unlikely to stop for them. But I have long been astonished that traffic authorities have done absolutely nothing to improve traffic flow at the intersection, where I have witnessed many hair-raising incidents.

            The problem is that motorists on both sides of Cordell are allowed to make left turns onto Old Georgetown Road or even cross both sides of the road completely to reach the other side of Cordell. This is completely impractical because of the high volume of traffic on Old Georgetown Road and backups at the traffic light only a half-block away, at the very complex intersection of Old Georgetown, Wilson Lane, Arlington Road, and St. Elmo Avenue. Nevertheless, I see vehicles on both sides of Cordell attempting to turn left on Old Georgetown Road or even to cross Old Georgetown Road completely all the time, with hazardous consequences almost every time.

            It is so obvious to me that a traffic light should be installed at the intersection or that cars on both side of Cordell should be compelled to turn right only on Old Georgetown Road and prevented from going straight or turning left. I would recommend that traffic administrators change traffic control at the intersection as soon as possible, before an accident waiting to happen becomes more accidents that have actually happened.

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