The Washington Post - 07.08.2019

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 B3

lights the importance of our

efforts to innovate using data

and technology to reduce con-

gestion and improve safety at the

curbside.” The city has taken

steps to “create dedicated pickup

and drop off areas for ride-hail-

ing vehicles,” he said, and em-

braced scooter and bike-share

efforts, among other initiatives.

The data show that o f the Uber

and Lyft miles driven in the

District, 19 percent are down-

town and 81 percent are in the

rest of the city.

are posting big losses as they

subsidize rides to compete with

each other.

“People are leaving the bus

and train networks not only

because” Uber and Lyft “are

cheap but because the transit

service they’re providing is not

that great,” Lewis said, adding

that levies on the ride-hailing

services can be directed at im-

proving traffic flow for other city

residents through initiatives

such as express bus lanes.

Jeff Marootian, director of the

District Department of Trans-

portation, said the study “high-

Uber’s head of global policy for

public transportation, said in a

statement. But, he added, “its

scale i s dwarfed by t hat of private

cars and commercial traffic.”

The data show that about 7

percent of the “vehicle miles

traveled” in the District are in

Ubers and Lyfts, a nd the o ther 93

percent are other cars and

trucks. That 7 percent includes

time the company drivers spend

circling while they wait for a fare

or driving to pick up passengers.

The companies’ share of the

vehicle miles traveled for the

entire Washington region was

about 2 percent, according to the

study.

“I’m delighted to finally see

these numbers. They’re some-

thing w e’ve been t rying to get our

hands on,” said Paul Lewis, vice

president of policy at the Wash-

ington-based Eno Center for

Transportation.

Lewis noted that the figures

are for September 2018, and they

do not include data on when

trips were taken, which can ob-

scure c ritical parts of the p icture.

“D.C. streets aren’t always con-

gested, right?” Lewis said, add-

ing that data showing the

amount of miles driven by Uber

and Lyft vehicles “during the

peak hour is almost more impor-

tant.”

The data from S eptember 2018

was selected, researchers said,

because S eptember is a represen-

tative non-summer month with

little holiday activity.

Still, the numbers raise impor-

tant policy questions, Lewis said,

about how the firms are drawing

riders from transit and about the

efficiency of the services, which

TRAFFIC FROM B1

The racing

career of Charles

Ota Heller’s 1940

Hudson coupe did

not even span the

single event in

which i t was

entered. That w as

in 1953, the

summer after

Charles graduated

from high school.

Charles — a former

entrepreneur, academic and

venture capitalist, and now full-

time author — lives in Annapolis.

He r esponded t o my r ecent call

for stories about favorite old cars.

This is the s tory of his late, great

Hudson.

The Hudson was not a racecar.

In f act, by the time Charles

owned it, i t was not a very reliable

streetcar either, prone to stalling

at t raffic lights. Deciding it might

be better suited for d riving

around a track — where, ideally,

the car wouldn’t h ave to stop —

Charles decided he should race

the Hudson at t he Morristown,

N.J., Raceway, a half-mile d irt

track next door to the plant that

made Mennen deodorant.

At 18, Charles was technically

too young to get a NASCAR

novice license (the minimum age

was 21). But there was a secretary

at h is summer job w ith Bell Labs

who was famed for h er skills a s a

“master counterfeiter,” a ble to

change the date of birth on a draft

card so a guy would appear o ld

enough to order a drink at a bar.

“I gave my c ard t o the lady one

day, a long with a 20-dollar bill,”

Charles wrote. “Presto, the

following d ay, I was three years

older.”

He w as able to secure a

provisional NASCAR license,

good for three races.

“My parents w ere a more

difficult stumbling block,” he

wrote.

Charles convinced them that

the Hudson was really not safe

enough to drive on t he s treet and

it would be much better to modify

it so a “friend” c ould race it.

“Mother thought the idea was

a bit crazy and Papa wondered

why I did not just take the car to

the junkyard,” Charles wrote.

“But they did not object and even

agreed to let us work on the car in

our driveway.”

In w ent a roll bar and seat belt.

Out came t he side windows. On

went the number “14” in white

paint on the flanks of the b lack

car. When it started to rain one

day, t he mighty Hudson was

pushed into t he garage.

“My father had r ecently

purchased a new, green

wheelbarrow,” C harles wrote. “It

was standing in the middle of the

small garage. S ince there was no

room for it elsewhere, we stowed

it inside the trunk of the Hudson

while we worked indoors.”

After a few days, the work was

done. C harles grabbed his

helmet, slipped into his fireproof

suit and drove the c ar — still

street legal — to the track.

“I was a nervous wreck w hile

awaiting t he start of the race,” he

wrote. But when h e was

summoned for h is heat and

began d oing his practice l aps,

Charles’s confidence grew.

“I can do this!” he told himself.

“I’m gonna kick everybody’s b utt

and, by the end of summer, I’ll be

racing in the f eature race with the

big guys.”

When he was waved to the

starting grid, C harles was sure to

keep his foot on the accelerator,

revving the e ngine lest it stall:

VROOM! VROOM! VROOM!

“My eyes were on the starter’s

green f lag. Then, suddenly: BAM!

An explosion rocked the car and

white smoke billowed from the

hood.”

Charles freed himself from his

seat belt and hastily s queezed his

body through the side window.

“A s I stood there, horrified and

embarrassed, a tow truck

screeched to a halt near the

Hudson, and a couple of guys

with fire extinguishers

smothered the smoke,” he wrote.

Charles followed on foot as the

car was towed to the pits. When

he got there, the hood of the

Hudson was open and several

men were staring at t he stricken

engine, which h ad been neatly

bisected by a flying p iston rod.

One of the men owned a

junkyard. He o ffered t o take the

car off Charles’s hands f or $25:

Twenty bucks for the battery and

five for the car. Charles was

insulted but took the money.

At dinner a couple of weeks

later, Charles’s father asked: “Has

anyone seen my n ew

wheelbarrow?”

Charles came clean: Along

with the Hudson, the

wheelbarrow had been

compressed into a small c ube of

junk steel.

“Expecting a slap in the face a t

a minimum, I was amazed to see

Papa laugh s o hard he nearly fell

off his chair,” C harles wrote. “Of

course, I did n ot tell him that I

had been at t he wheel o f the

exploding car.”

[email protected]

Twitter: @johnkelly

 For previous columns, visit

washingtonpost.com/john-kelly.

From vroom to boom! Kids, don’t lie to your parents.

John

Kelly's

Washington

BY LYNH BUI

AND DANA HEDGPETH

A man who was critically in-
jured in a shooting after a funer-
al has died, authorities said.
Prince George’s County police
said Mshairi Alkebular, 24, of
Southeast Washington, was shot
about 1:10 p.m. Monday in the
5800 block of Suitland Road in
Suitland.
Police said that a large fight
broke out after a funeral at a
church in a strip mall i n the 5600
block of Suitland Road. While
officers were trying to break up
the fight, they heard gunshots
nearby. About a block away, they
found Alkebular suffering from a
gunshot wound to his upper
body, police said.
He was taken to a hospital,
where he died Monday night,
police said. Three other people
were hurt in the fight and suf-
fered injuries that d id not a ppear

to be life-threatening, police

said.

Police are investigating

whether the shooting and the

fight were linked. Everyone in-

volved, including the victim, had

attended the funeral, police said.

The funeral was for a person

killed in the District.

Two police officials familiar

with the investigation said the

funeral was for Eric Byrd, a

34-year-old Southeast Washing-

ton man who was shot and killed

shortly before 3 a.m. July 20

along the busy U Street nightlife

corridor in Northwest Washing-

ton.

An obituary for Byrd said the

funeral Monday started at 1 1 a.m.

Police have not made arrests

in either shooting.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Pe ter Hermann contributed to this

report.

MARYLAND

D.C. man shot following

funeral altercation dies

1 in every 15 miles driven in D.C. is in Uber, Lyft cars

Results from Aug. 6

DISTRICT
Mid-Day Lucky Numbers: 2-9-5
Mid-Day DC-4: 3-8-5-2
Mid-Day DC-5: 7-9-8-2-3
Lucky Numbers (Mon.): 8-8-8
Lucky Numbers (Tue.): 0-5-7
DC-4 (Mon.): 9-4-5-7
DC-4 (Tue.): 5-7-6-8
DC-5 (Mon.): 9-3-9-4-7
DC-5 (Tue.): 8-4-3-2-3

MARYLAND
Day/Pick 3: 1-4-4
Pick 4: 2-6-0-6
Night/Pick 3 (Mon.):6-8-7
Pick 3 (Tue.): 5-4-5
Pick 4 (Mon.): 5-6-5-3
Pick 4 (Tue.): 8-7-8-6
Multi-Match (Mon.): 3-7-8-13-26-30
Match 5 (Mon.): 5-10-16-33-37 34
Match 5 (Tue.): 21-28-31-37-38 1
5 Card Cash: JH-3C-AH-QD-KS

VIRGINIA

Day/Pick-3: 3-1-3

Pick-4: 9-8-2-4

Cash-5 (Tue.): 8-12-19-26-27

Night/Pick-3 (Mon.): 9-0-4

Pick-3 (Tue.): 1-7-2

Pick-4 (Mon.): 5-2-1-9

Pick-4 (Tue.): 0-1-8-9

Cash-5 (Mon.): 1-4-14-21-29

Cash-5 (Tue.): 1-4-9-25-32

MULTI-STATE GAMES

Cash 4 Life:9-19-24-34-56 ¶3

Mega Millions: 11-17-31-43-55 **16

Megaplier: 2x

Lucky for Life:20-30- 37 -42-47 ‡10

*Bonus Ball **Mega Ball

‡Lucky Ball ¶Cash Ball

For late drawings and other results,

check washingtonpost.com/local/

lottery

LOTTERIES

LOCAL DIGEST

THE DISTRICT

Man stabbed to death

in Marshall Heights

A man was fatally stabbed
Monday night in Southeast
Washington, according to D.C.
police.
The incident happened about
9:45 p.m. in the 5000 block of
Bass Place SE, in the Marshall
Heights neighborhood, where
police said officers responded to
the area and found the victim
with multiple stab wounds.
Police said he was
pronounced dead at a hospital
but have not been able to
identify the victim and no
arrests have been made.
As of Monday, there have been
99 homicides in the District so
far in 2019.
— Peter Hermann

MARYLAND

Motorcyclist killed in

Prince George’s crash

In the third fatal crash
involving a motorcycle in the
Washington area in two days, a
man was killed Monday night
when his Suzuki sportbike
collided with a Nissan Ultima in
the Largo area of Prince George’s
County, according to Maryland
State Police.

Officers responded about

9:30 p.m. Monday to the report

of a crash on Central Avenue at

Watkins Park Drive, and an

investigation showed the driver

of the Altima was trying to make

a left turn from westbound

Central Avenue when the car

and the eastbound motorcycle

collided, police said.

Police identified the

motorcyclist as Marcus Lee

Ty son, 26, of Mitchellville, who

was pronounced dead at the

scene.

Investigators said alcohol

wasn’t a factor in the crash and

charges against the driver are

pending the conclusion of the

investigation.

— Martin Weil

and Justin Wm. Moyer

VIRGINIA

OmniRide buses

resume normal service

The commuter bus service for

Prince William County and

Manassas was back to normal

Tuesday.

Riders of the OmniRide bus

had experienced disruptions and

route changes over the past

week because of a work stoppage

among the company’s drivers,

who were negotiating a new

contract with management.

— Dana Hedgpeth

COURTESY OF CHARLES OTA HELLER

Charles Ota Heller uses a brush to apply black paint to his 1940

Hudson coupe. In 1953, he entered it in its first — and last — race.

EVELYN HOCKSTEIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Cars travel down 18th Street NW in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington. Data show that

about 7 percent of the “vehicle miles traveled” in the District are in Uber and Lyft vehicles.

“I’m delighted to finally

see these numbers.

They’re something

we’ve been trying to get

our hands on.”

Paul Lewis,

vice president of policy

at the Washington-based

Eno Center for Transportation

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