DC Pedestrian Safety

[Anonymous]

I live around the corner. It's a bad crosswalk that drivers routinely disregard. There's a painted crosswalk but no light or stop sign, and the bars and brunch spots in Adams Morgan are unfortunately a draw for MD and VA drivers who aren't as accustomed to yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks without lights. When we use that crosswalk, (almost always MD or VA) drivers frequently try to speed up to either beat us before we cross their paths or to intimidate us into yielding to them. They rarely stop as they should simply because there are already pedestrians in the crosswalk. In order to get across the street, I need to proceed really assertively and make eye contact with the drivers to get them to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pretty gross how the bicyclist crowd always tries to exploit the death of people in accidents...

This is their go-to move. They blame cars for everything, try to make it seem like reckless drivers are omnipresent, etc.

This is a thread about pedestrian safety. The woman killed was not on a bicycle. The only people who brought up bicycles are people who seem to think that it's silly to blame the driver of a car that hit and killed a pedestrian for the death of that pedestrian. How does this have anything to do with "the bicyclist crowd?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that many of the most dangerous drivers are stoned out of their minds. D.C. legalized pot without worrying too much about what it would mean for traffic safety.

+1. A good number of Maryland drivers have pot smoke emanating from their cars. DC government officials could care less.

People who are drunk or high are going to cause a disproportionate share of accidents, and it's hard to catch them when the police don't stop anybody for anything. There is zero enforcement of traffic laws in D.C.

[Anonymous]

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I am interested in this magical place you're creating. When you get done banning people from having accidents, could you also create bicyclists who don't ignore all traffic laws?

It's entirely possible to have cities where people aren't killed when they try to cross the street. I'm sorry that you're so ignorant and/or uninterested. That's actually part of the problem.

There's five million cars in the DMV, and we could prevent all accidents if only people would...BELIEVE!

No, actually, we could prevent fatal crashes and serious injury-crashes if we design safe streets, remove dangerous drivers from the roads, and prioritize safe means of transportation. This has been the city's official policy for several years now. It's just that they're not implementing it.

Awww. Your faith in the government and the power of social engineering is so...cute! Maybe you could also do something about the shocking number of homicides in D.C. Could you engineer those away too?

It's called civil engineering and yes, it works. Are you like this in real life?

If it works, then why has the number of annual traffic fatalities increased since Bowser took office?

Because Bowser hasn’t actually done anything to make it safer.

[Anonymous]

I live a couple thousand feet from the crosswalk where Nina was killed. Tonight I was crossing the street using the other crosswalk on the block and a car just blew through it.

And for the record, there is a giant, bright yellow, reflective "crosswalk - brake for pedestrians" sign at the crosswalk where Nina died. Now her memorial is underneath it.

[Anonymous]

And she was dragged several feet before she was pinned under the car. Would like to know how the driver was going fast enough to accomplish that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live a couple thousand feet from the crosswalk where Nina was killed. Tonight I was crossing the street using the other crosswalk on the block and a car just blew through it.

And for the record, there is a giant, bright yellow, reflective "crosswalk - brake for pedestrians" sign at the crosswalk where Nina died. Now her memorial is underneath it.

I always feel like that signage is just a signal for pedestrians that it's a dangerous intersection and the city hasn't done anything about it. I was once crossing with the light, had my kid in a giant jogging stroller. There was a huge no right on red sign and multiple other ped safety signs, but a guy blew through. If I had stepped off the curb, I don't even want to think about what would have happened.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:How does anyone know this was the driver's fault?

A driver who was turning right from Biltmore St NW onto Columbia Rd NW, at 3:30 pm on a Saturday, struck and killed a 24-year-old woman who was crossing Columbia Rd NW. And you want to talk about whether the driver was at fault? Really?

You don't actually know who was at fault. It's impossible to tell from the media accounts. Don't pretend you know what happened because you don't.

If you can't avoid hitting and killing a person in Adams Morgan on a Saturday afternoon, REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES, you should not have a driver's license.

That's obviously silly. There are accidents where the driver was at fault. There are accidents where the pedestrian was at fault. There are accidents where no one was at fault. It depends on the particular circumstances of the incident.

No, it's obviously obvious. It's your duty as driver to not hit pedestrians. And not just on a busy city street on a Saturday afternoon, but always. We are talking about streets that people don't get killed on, and you're talking about, "Hey, maybe the pedestrian was at fault!"

It's so crazy how you know exactly what happened here, despite not witnessing the accident. Perhaps you should call the police and tell their investigators that they can stand down on this one, because you figured it all out while surfing the web in your mom's basement.

how could she possibly be at fault? she was IN THE CROSSWALK.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:How does anyone know this was the driver's fault?

A driver who was turning right from Biltmore St NW onto Columbia Rd NW, at 3:30 pm on a Saturday, struck and killed a 24-year-old woman who was crossing Columbia Rd NW. And you want to talk about whether the driver was at fault? Really?

You don't actually know who was at fault. It's impossible to tell from the media accounts. Don't pretend you know what happened because you don't.

If you can't avoid hitting and killing a person in Adams Morgan on a Saturday afternoon, REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES, you should not have a driver's license.

That's obviously silly. There are accidents where the driver was at fault. There are accidents where the pedestrian was at fault. There are accidents where no one was at fault. It depends on the particular circumstances of the incident.

No, it's obviously obvious. It's your duty as driver to not hit pedestrians. And not just on a busy city street on a Saturday afternoon, but always. We are talking about streets that people don't get killed on, and you're talking about, "Hey, maybe the pedestrian was at fault!"

It's so crazy how you know exactly what happened here, despite not witnessing the accident. Perhaps you should call the police and tell their investigators that they can stand down on this one, because you figured it all out while surfing the web in your mom's basement.

how could she possibly be at fault? she was IN THE CROSSWALK.

Have you never driven a car in D.C. before? I don't know what happened in this incident but sometimes people are stupid or not paying attention and step into crosswalks, and in front of oncoming cars, at the last moment. My car doesnt go 30 mph to zero mph in one second. I've had to swerve into the other lane to avoid people in crosswalks being idiots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


It's so crazy how you know exactly what happened here, despite not witnessing the accident. Perhaps you should call the police and tell their investigators that they can stand down on this one, because you figured it all out while surfing the web in your mom's basement.

how could she possibly be at fault? she was IN THE CROSSWALK.

Plus, "who was at fault?" is such a horrible way to think about people killed, anyway. When I'm driving, I don't want to hit anybody, whether or not their feet were within the white-painted lines on the road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Have you never driven a car in D.C. before? I don't know what happened in this incident but sometimes people are stupid or not paying attention and step into crosswalks, and in front of oncoming cars, at the last moment. My car doesnt go 30 mph to zero mph in one second. I've had to swerve into the other lane to avoid people in crosswalks being idiots.

You shouldn't be driving faster than 20 mph.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And she was dragged several feet before she was pinned under the car. Would like to know how the driver was going fast enough to accomplish that.

Makes you wonder if the driver was drunk or high.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Have you never driven a car in D.C. before? I don't know what happened in this incident but sometimes people are stupid or not paying attention and step into crosswalks, and in front of oncoming cars, at the last moment. My car doesnt go 30 mph to zero mph in one second. I've had to swerve into the other lane to avoid people in crosswalks being idiots.

You shouldn't be driving faster than 20 mph.

I think you're missing the point. Also, it sort of depends on the posted speed limit, doesn't it?

[Anonymous]

The lack of traffic enforcement by the police is appalling. I routinely see people blowing through stop signs in my neighborhood. Everyone knows the police don't care about anything so people feel free to do what they like.

[Anonymous]

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Have you never driven a car in D.C. before? I don't know what happened in this incident but sometimes people are stupid or not paying attention and step into crosswalks, and in front of oncoming cars, at the last moment. My car doesnt go 30 mph to zero mph in one second. I've had to swerve into the other lane to avoid people in crosswalks being idiots.

You shouldn't be driving faster than 20 mph.

I think you're missing the point. Also, it sort of depends on the posted speed limit, doesn't it?

No, I'm not missing the point at all. It's much easier to see people and react in time when you're driving 20 mph than when you're driving 30 mph. It's also much less likely that you will injure them if you do hit them. So when there are pedestrians around, don't drive faster than 20 mph.

Also, 20 mph is the default speed limit (i.e., MAXIMUM allowable speed under ideal conditions) in DC.