Well, trauma is perhaps too strong a word. But I did have a few "incidents" on the bus over the weekend.

First, on Friday, I was taking the bus down to the DC Improv to meet the wife and some friends. The bus driver decided that the light at Connecticut and Florida just north of Dupont didn't really apply to him. A few cars thought that maybe it did, and registered their disagreement with their horns. No one was injured.

Then, on the way home from the 10K, we were on the same bus line, the 42, going north on Connecticut.  We were at the Q St. stop, and a gentleman in a large Range Rover decided that he wanted to pass the bus before he missed the light.  Unfortunately, his Range Rover was wider than the space between the bus and the Jersey wall.  Oops.  So he hit us.  I actually didn't notice the impact, but the bus driver had to stop and call it in and wait for her supervisor or something.  So we walked the rest of the way home.

I was a little disappointed in the reaction of the passengers on the bus, some of whom expressed a lot of anger at the bus driver.  It wasn't her fault that she had been rear-ended, or that she had to wait for permission to move the bus.  But try telling that to the angry people on the bus.

Anyway, I think the bus driver handled the whole thing well.  She called it in right away, then told the bus passengers what was going on.  She apologized for the inconvenience.  Not much more she could have done.

And riding the bus still beats driving in the city.

Columbia Heights Shootings Cause Alarm - washingtonpost.com

"I've been living around here since I was in diapers," said Chinata Nesbit, 21, who lived in an apartment across the hall from Terry. "It's never been this bad."

Well, I suppose it's of some small comfort that this is the worst it's been in 20 years - that suggests that we're just going through a rough patch and it should get better. Or, maybe not. I don't really know what I'd like to see done about it. I don't know the best way to reduce violence. I don't think that banning guns is the answer. There must be studies done on levels of violence before and after gun bans go into effect, and I'll bet the change is not as drastic as people would like to think it is.

I'd like to see more police around.  I think foot patrols would be great.  I was talking to friends in Mount Pleasant, just a few blocks away, and they have police officers who are always around.  I think having a few cops who actually know residents on the street because they're around all the time would have a much higher impact on the amount of violence.  It's less flashy and more costly than banning guns, though.

I was in Maryland today visiting some good friends, and got home around 11:30PM to find the street one block over closed by police cars and crime scene tape. I'm not feeling terribly inclined to go investigate, but I'm curious what it is. I suppose I'll have to find out in the morning.

Update: I hear from a Columbia Heights message board that our councilmember, Jim Graham, sent an email out. There was a shooting, one dead, one wounded.