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So, we went to see the 4th of July fireworks this year (they weren't that great...ugh). We camped out at 4pm to get the best view (fireworks started at 10:30pm). They sucked, and it felt like such a waste...
Anyways, this park/marina that had the festival and the best firework viewing spot has limited parking. Also, there is only one way in or out, which means that as everyone tries to leave at once, it can literally take hours to get out of there. The whole marina parking, as well as the main road, is a parking lot.
Happily, you can usually take a free park-and-ride shuttle. This year, the shuttle park-and-ride was set up just three blocks from the parking to the marina driveway, and from the park itself was about five blocks. So, really not that far if you had to walk it. To leave the park after the fireworks, the two shuttle buses had a police escort so that they could cut through the traffic and get out.
We just missed the first set of shuttles. The motorcycle cop escorting them started up his lights, and they were off around the corner. We waited for the next shuttle. And waited. And waited.
After 20 minutes, we decided to just give up and start walking. We start walking and head around the first building and...
There's the two buses. With the police escort. They had barely made it a block.
We made it to the end of the driveway. At this point, people were finally pulling over for the police escort, and they caught up with us. However, traffic on the main road was snarled. Not only was traffic leaving the park, but across the marina there's a hotel and another park that several people were leaving from as well, not to mention all the people parked along the road. So fairly soon, we were walking past the shuttle.
The police officer was literally pulling up to people's windows, knocking on them, and telling them to, you know, pull the f*** over (though he was more polite about it), since that's kind of what you're supposed to do with flashing lights. Many were only moving over just enough to let the motorcycle cop by, and he had to tell them no, you need to move all the way over to let the buses by! Yeah, it was congested, but they still had room room to pull over. It was just that no one was doing it!
At this point, I'm wondering if we're going to beat the shuttle back to the park-and-ride. Just as we come up upon it, the buses finally pull up. It took them almost 40 minutes to drive less than 5 blocks, with a police escort!
I felt so bad for the people still waiting for the next shuttle. It was 11:30 when we got back to the park-and-ride, and the shuttle service was only chartered until midnight. We passed the bus drivers coming up to talk to the policeman, and I overheard this little bit:
Bus driver: "What the hell was that?!?!"
Officer: "I don't know; people were just making their own traffic patterns I guess..."
From where we were parked, the traffic was starting to break up (half going up one street and half going up the other), so we didn't have to sit in traffic and got out of the park-and-ride quickly.
I don't know if they were able to send a shuttle back to the rest of those people. Yeah, it's not that far to walk, but many of those people had lots of strollers, chairs (we had chairs and a cooler ourselves), and it is a sketchy neighborhood after dark (though with the number of police directing traffic, I'm sure it was plenty safe).
I'd hate to think what would happen if they needed to send an ambulance or fire truck through. I think people were thinking "Well, that guy's not pulling over, so I guess I don't have to." Like a herd mentality or something. Seriously, how can that many people know that flashing lights = pull the f*** over?!?!
Anyways, this park/marina that had the festival and the best firework viewing spot has limited parking. Also, there is only one way in or out, which means that as everyone tries to leave at once, it can literally take hours to get out of there. The whole marina parking, as well as the main road, is a parking lot.
Happily, you can usually take a free park-and-ride shuttle. This year, the shuttle park-and-ride was set up just three blocks from the parking to the marina driveway, and from the park itself was about five blocks. So, really not that far if you had to walk it. To leave the park after the fireworks, the two shuttle buses had a police escort so that they could cut through the traffic and get out.
We just missed the first set of shuttles. The motorcycle cop escorting them started up his lights, and they were off around the corner. We waited for the next shuttle. And waited. And waited.
After 20 minutes, we decided to just give up and start walking. We start walking and head around the first building and...
There's the two buses. With the police escort. They had barely made it a block.
We made it to the end of the driveway. At this point, people were finally pulling over for the police escort, and they caught up with us. However, traffic on the main road was snarled. Not only was traffic leaving the park, but across the marina there's a hotel and another park that several people were leaving from as well, not to mention all the people parked along the road. So fairly soon, we were walking past the shuttle.
The police officer was literally pulling up to people's windows, knocking on them, and telling them to, you know, pull the f*** over (though he was more polite about it), since that's kind of what you're supposed to do with flashing lights. Many were only moving over just enough to let the motorcycle cop by, and he had to tell them no, you need to move all the way over to let the buses by! Yeah, it was congested, but they still had room room to pull over. It was just that no one was doing it!
At this point, I'm wondering if we're going to beat the shuttle back to the park-and-ride. Just as we come up upon it, the buses finally pull up. It took them almost 40 minutes to drive less than 5 blocks, with a police escort!
I felt so bad for the people still waiting for the next shuttle. It was 11:30 when we got back to the park-and-ride, and the shuttle service was only chartered until midnight. We passed the bus drivers coming up to talk to the policeman, and I overheard this little bit:
Bus driver: "What the hell was that?!?!"
Officer: "I don't know; people were just making their own traffic patterns I guess..."
From where we were parked, the traffic was starting to break up (half going up one street and half going up the other), so we didn't have to sit in traffic and got out of the park-and-ride quickly.
I don't know if they were able to send a shuttle back to the rest of those people. Yeah, it's not that far to walk, but many of those people had lots of strollers, chairs (we had chairs and a cooler ourselves), and it is a sketchy neighborhood after dark (though with the number of police directing traffic, I'm sure it was plenty safe).
I'd hate to think what would happen if they needed to send an ambulance or fire truck through. I think people were thinking "Well, that guy's not pulling over, so I guess I don't have to." Like a herd mentality or something. Seriously, how can that many people know that flashing lights = pull the f*** over?!?!
All I could think of reading this was what if the police were escorting an ambulance with a critical patient?
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