To the Editor:
There is an old adage that says that you should never enact a law you don’t intend to enforce. Well that’s exactly what our august council has done with their approval of a pilot program disallowing all left hand turns at the Union and King street intersection.
No one, and I mean no one, is obeying the many new “No Left Turn” signs posted not only at the Union/King intersection but also on the unit block of King and at the Lee and King intersection.
What this means is that all of the camera collected data at a number of other intersections will be totally invalid when deciding whether or not to make this pilot program permanent.
All of this has resulted because the council did not direct the Police Department to put an officer at the King/Union intersection to stand out in the middle of the intersection to direct traffic during the peak traffic hours on Friday and Saturday nights. If not a uniformed police officer, then how about a sheriff’s deputy, traffic enforcer or even one of our school traffic guards? Does five hours on Friday night and five hours on Saturday night seem so unreasonable? Last Friday night at 7 p.m. nary a cop was to be found at the Union/King corner.
The Traffic and Parking Board saw through this folly, however they had to consider it after it was passed be the council; the cart before the horse again. Council needs to start assessing the unintended consequences of its actions before acting in such a slipshod manner.
Townsend A. “Van” Van Fleet
Alexandria