Reply #20: And at 7 a.m., in that neighborhood, there's very little traffic

[Mabus]

After watching the video I can tell you that Novak's car was parked in the 1700 block of K Street. The police car he was sitting in at the beginning of the video was parked at Connecticut Ave NW and K Street (near the Farragut North Metro station and across the street from Farragut Square). I recognize the area because my husband works a block away, near the corner of 18th St. NW and K Streets. Whenever hubby gets to work before 8 a.m., he says the area is like a ghost town. Most people around there don't get to work before 9. There are few people out walking and there are few cars on the streets. I can't imagine that it is more populated earlier in the morning when Novak was stopped by the bicyclist.

Additionally, Novak also appears to have been in the "frontage lane" along K Street. Along this stretch of K Street there is K Street "proper" and two frontage lanes. The two frontage lanes are two lanes wide and are separated from K Street proper by a 3 to 4 foot wide cement sidewalk. This set-up allows people to use a safe lane on either side of the street to find a street side parking place or pick-up/drop-off people without slowing down traffic. How do we know that Novak was in this lane? Because he pointed to where the biker blocked him and basically said that's why his car was parked where it was. The reason I mention this is because, it is common practice (and common sense), to go slower in this lane because there is a higher chance that someone may step out into traffic while getting out of their car and/or because they just got dropped off by another car of a bus.

Finally, fwiw, around here, the sun comes up early. I'm a few miles north of DC and it is already light by 6 a.m. I have a terrible habit of waking up when it starts getting light outside. By 7 a.m. yesterday, it was light outside and I'd already had my second cup of coffee.

So, Novak was driving in a lane that every one knows to go slower and more cautious in, there were few people and traffic is light at that time (relative to what that area is like during the 9 - 5 period) and daylight was not a factor.