Illegal right turns on Waxpool

Let's play devil's advocate.

How long would the lines be at these various places if people did not make the illegal turns?
Think it is bad at Loco Pkwy and Waxpool now? Put the 20ish cars FOR EACH LIGHT CYCLE back into line and I bet traffic would be backed up to Shellhorn.

I am not saying it is right but it is necessary at certain times to bend the law. And this is why the police do not ticket for this particualr offense, they too know it is necessary.

And FWIW, I hate the term "accident waiting to happen". An accident can happen on a ANY road at any given time. And honestly, I have not seen of heard of many accidents at the intersections mentioned.

 

That's a good idea, bending the law is always been a good "excuse" to not following the rules. Hmm, let's see, I could start drinking on the drive home from work and although I may not be intoxicated it would allow me to start a little earlier. I often times wish I could start drinking earlier. I would be nice to get the weekend started sooner than waiting to get home to start drinking.

good idea T8erman.

 

I know it's a pain in the arse, but you really need to just wait your turn (literally) like everyone in line. It takes as long as it takes. I'm sure it's frustrating day in/day out but it can really increase the likelihood of an accident to "bend the law."

 

I think it's time for a revolution! Something has to be done about Waxpool. It's out of control. What can we do? Who do we write to? I can't take it anymore!!!!

 

I think we start with our County supervisor, Stevens Miller. I know when I was inquiring about a light at Demott and Broadlands Blvd I was told by VDOT that all request had to come through my supervisors office. I know the previous rep was able to get a study done for the HOA though I have not been able to get any further progress.
That is where I would start

Staci

 

If writing someone doesn't work, a petition is always a good idea.

 

i have noticed that the LCP to Waxpool light is longer- maybe that's a good start for the Waxpool/Waxpool light near the Ice house. IF they don't have 3 lanes to turn ONTO, they cannot make a 2nd turning lane. police prescence is the only other option at Waxpool Waxpool.

i wrote to the county years ago about Waxpool/Waxpool but i can't remember the address I used, but i did get a response. the length of the green turning onto the main vein of Waxpool was lengthened, but nothing else has been done, and apparently it needs to be lengthened again...

 

My selfish side says the light for LCP onto Waxpool should be shortened.
You see, all those Developers south of the Greenway that built all the homes that all those cars are coming from didn't feel any other roads to serve their thousands of cars needed to be built. After all, these residents would have quick and easy access to the Greenway. They won't go all the way to Waxpool, which is out of there way, to head east.
The only thing more ridiculous and stupid than this argument is the fact that the county bought this bill of goods.

LCP traffic can wait, thank you very much.

 

Eastbound Waxpool has two thru lanes leading up to LCP, and 3 thru lanes after. All of the worst congestion on this road is leading up to the LCP intersection. Once you get past that, traffic flows freely, even during morning rush.

If you made the rightmost 3rd lane a merge lane for traffic coming from LCP, you could let LCP traffic flow continuously onto Waxpool without giving them more green time. You wouldn't need 2 or 3 turn lanes. One lane that doesn't need to stop would be sufficient. Then you could actually reduce the green time for LCP. The end result would be that traffic from LCP *and* traffic from Waxpool would both flow more smoothly.

 

Just think of this...if you have kids in the car, you're not setting a very good example for them! They'll be driving soon and will you tell them it's ok to bend the law????? I'm so sick of these moms in mini vans with kids that roll (if that) to a stop and speed thru the neighborhoods.

 

Isn't that the setup that USED to be at the intersection of Pacific and Waxpool coming out of Wegmans? It used to merge some but now it's a light.

 

Ever speed, even 1 mile over the limit? Ever go through a yellow light when you could have stopped? Ever done a right-turn on red without coming to a complete stop? Ever switch lanes without signaling?

These are also bending the law.

Charles, you CAN have a drink or 2. Just don't go over .08!

 

I'm not a perfect driver....but I always stop, not rolling, I stop completely...you know why? I learned the hard way when I was 16 and failed my drivers road test by coming to a rolling stop. I immediately failed my test....it was a stupid habit of mine already at 16. Then I took it again, and guess what? Unconsciously - I AGAIN didn't do a complete stop and immediately failed. So no, I ALWAYS come to a complete stop at stop signs and right turn on red. I always use my signal too, because it's one of my pet peeves that people around here don't and they figure you know what they're doing......Now - I have gone thru a yellow light when I'm right there and it's safe and I do drive no more than five miles over the speed limit. I probably annoy people....but I'm not in the left lane and I get to my destination when I get there.....

 

Unless you are in DC where it is zero tolerance

There was a story about this and a girl attorney who was caught and had one glass of wine and was arrested. She tried to fight it in court and lost.

 

Petitions do work if you use them correctly. Just the simple petition does nothing. A petition does give you a field of people that might make phone calls and emails, it gives you a pool of people to send out information about meetings and other things.

And lets just say you and I are fighting the same battle and you contact the media about how you don't like the fact that the cops allow people to turn illegally on waxpool, but all you have is that. And lets say that I contact the media about how I am going to drop off a petition with 2000 signatures at the office of the county supervisor because of the same issue.
Who do you think has more traction in the media?

 

Here is the text of LSCO response to the submitted complaint (sorry the length - but I wanted to include the entire response). I would urge other drivers to take a moment and complete the on-line form.

http://loudoun.vhost.vipnet.org/sheriff/complaint.htm

From Sgt Nugent Motor Squad Office #703 771 5725


We have received your request in the Traffic Division for enforcement. The intersection of Loudoun County Parkway at Waxpool Road has had several enforcement actions without success of changing driving behavior. This included closing a turn lane for units to enforce your request. Several citations were written which generated numerous complaints about us causing a major traffic jam during the rush hour. Several Motor Units were detailed again at differant times for high visibility at this intersection thus causing another round of complaints from drivers about traffic jamming again. This intersection is just handling to many cars during the rush hour.
We have gotten VDOT to make timing changes light function changes additional lane markings and additional signs all which have not solved the problem. Finally VDOT has agreed to redo an engineering study of this intersection to make the appropiate corrections in the future. Today I accessed an accident review of this intersection from the hours of 6 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 7 pm. This revealed one accident a minor crash during the time frames of the rush hour. It did reveal several rear end crashes prior to the light on Waxpool Road due to following to close drivers not giving adquate distance. It revealed NO crashes on Loudoun County Parkway coming from the Broadlands area. This was checked only during the rush hours above. Seeing that VDOT is reviewing this intersection and no additional signs or changes will be made immediatly and the statics show a small amount of crashes this intersection will not recieve additional enforcement actions at this time. I will place a BOLO of the problems for all units to be aware and to take appropiate enforcement action upon observed traffic infractions as many deputies pass through this intersection daily during the time frames of the problem.
The second location you advised of the U turns are legal. We have monitored this intersection for impatient driving behavior and cited a few violations. However, it is legal to turn there at this time. The volume of traffic is tremendous that travels through this location also and a request to VDOT for a review to place a NO U Turn sign was denied by them last year. A second request was put through The County Office of Transportation and this was also denied by VDOT. A check was made to see if a traffic signal was going to be placed in front of the hotel. This revealed none was proffered by the shopping center prior to being built. I have also placed a BOLO for this intersection so all units will be aware of the concerns.
The bottom line is this roadway has too much traffic for its design build during rush hours. We will however try to address your concerns with impatient drivers. A copy of your complaint will be sent to County Transportation and VDOT. We appreciate you writing us about this problem so it can be sent to the correct agency for roadway corrections.
Traffic Division
Special Operations Division
Loudoun County Sheriff's Office

 

We will be having the same conversation 4 years from now unless this new BOS can get developer money to build some alternatives to waxpool. One there is no money to fix waxpool. All the waxpool task forces in the world are going to do nothing without money or some kind of funding. We now have a half used interchange at 28 and sterling soon to be permanently blocked from shellhorn by industrial which will only increase truck traffic and more low paying jobs. And the current road plan dumps everything into 606. So we a in the making of a new nightmare. The new hospital should be funding road improvements to waxpool not belmont at the moment, which is the current nightmare. If it is going to be a regional hospital then it should solve regional road problems not just band aids to traffic around the broadlands . All I can say I am extremely happy I don't have to drive waxpool during rush hour. Reality is waxpool is only going to get worse and worse with no real solutions in the works.