Driving on sidewalks.
 

There's a building (JGB Building) I walk by on my way to and from the the Metro each day. It's pretty new. About a year old and still mostly vacant. I think the reason it's vacant is that it's in a horrible location for traffic. It's hard to get to it or leave it because cars are backed up at the nearby traffic light, blocking the exit. There are also concrete median strips that block turns in certain directions.

My problem is that as I walk along the sidewalk in front of this building, I routinely see cars driving down a short segment of the sidewalk in order to get to a neighboring property (the Holiday Inn) that has a traffic light to exit their parking lot.

I understand why the cars do this. If they can get to the neighboring parking lot, they save a couple minutes and don't get funneled off into oblivion in the rush hour traffic.

The picture below shows the situation, although it was not taken at rush hour and doesn't show the heavy traffic. The red line is the path that cars take, and the yellow dotted line is the line pedestrians are supposed to take. You can see all the red brickwork on the sidewalk that shows where pedestrians are supposed to walk. The path that these cars travel takes them up a very wide wheelchair ramp that cuts the curb going both directions. It's very easy for them.

Mostly the cars wait for pedestrians to get off the sidewalk before they try to drive down it, but once or twice I've had cars block my path as I've been walking on it.

It needs to be redesigned somehow with a narrower wheelchair ramp or maybe better signs making it clear you can't do that. Ideally, they should make a driveway next to the sidewalk to connect the two parking lots, but I bet the Holiday Inn doesn't want the pass-through traffic.

I haven't spoken up about this to anyone. Should I contact the police? Should I contact the property management company for JBG? Should I contact the neighboring Holiday Inn? Should I just kick the sides of cars as they drive down the side walk? So far I've just given dirty looks to the drivers and put my arms up in the air like "WTF are you doing?" Mostly I see them doing it when I'm half a block away. Which means that I'm not usually a victim, but I'm annoyed on principle that cars would drive down the sidewalk just for a little convenience. Maybe I should do nothing and just let these drivers get home to their families the fastest way they can?

So what would you do? / What should I do?

Here's what's going to happen if you don't do anything: someday, a pedestrian will get killed, and you'll feel really horrible about it for years to come. Even if nothing gets done, you have to try. Contact the police, and tell them the situation. They can post a squad car there (I imagine the fines for reckless driving and endangerment are pretty damn steep.) It really looks like all that's needed is a handful of bollards in the sidewalk. Just mention to Holiday Inn and/or JGB that they will have the shit sued out of them if someone gets hit in their unsafe parking lot, and I bet they get installed right away.

Two words:

Automated bollards

Seems like a great place to install a really large sculpture. Maybe even a fountain...with a recessed pool. :)


Heh. What you need is an art installation. The area will look great.

I just needed a reality check. I wasn't sure if this was something I should get worked up about. I can sympathize with the drivers who do this, because it's virtually impossible to legally leave this parking lot during rush hour using this exit. It's a horrible location.

I just sent an e-mail to the leasing agents for this building, and one of them already responded saying he would forward it to the building manager.

Good going, glatt. That's the best course of action, along with a CC to building owners. Documentation of the problem is a good way to get a fix started.

Over here in places where pedestrians could be at risk from vehicles, they put up fences with just enough space for a couple of people to walk through.

Maybe they just need to put a small section of fence along the footpath. That'd put a stop to cars driving on it.

eta: and yes, I think you should say something. Not only are they endangering other people's lives. They're endangering yours. Surely that counts for something right?

glatt, did you ever hear back from the building manager?

Are you going to forward the suggestion to install automated bollards?

Yes. It turns out I had e-mailed the leasing agents for the building. They thanked me for my e-mail and said they would forward it to the on-site property manager. There have been no changes to the sidewalk since I sent my e-mail, but I haven't seen a single car driving down it since then, so they must have sent out a memo to their tenants or something. I'm paying attention though, so if they start driving down the sidewalk again, I'll be more vocal.

Good for you! Especially this time of year when people get a little extra crazy!

I'm reading The World According to Garp right now, and am just at the part where he describes his adventures in car chasing in his neighborhood.

I never read that book, and don't remember the movie too well either. What, is he like a dog chasing cars around?

He runs to chase down cars that speed in his neighborhood, to ask the drivers to slow down.

It's a good book, you should read it.

Some dumbass recently careened off the street here downtown. Went through a fence, through a small pool demolishing a statue of a Gryphon, and then went even further into a building, destroying a part of the history here. The windows upstairs even broke when the car hit the building. And it was like 7:30 in the morning or something.
Here is the statue and building they hit... http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3ZMM
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3ZMR
here are the "after" pictures... http://www.savannahnow.com/node/563672