Pedestrian safety issue hits close to home

Early Wednesday afternoon, a Department employee was struck by a dump truck while crossing the street near DOT Headquarters and taken to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.

She was in the crosswalk.

Sadly, she was not the first pedestrian coming to or from our building to be hit by a car. In late April, Amy Polk, a DOT contractor and mother of two young children, was killed.

Now, our headquarters is in a newly redeveloped area of Washington, DC, with plenty of transit access and a growing number of neighborhood amenities. But it also sits on M Street, SE, a very busy route for commercial vehicles.

And I am really, really worried about our employees' safety.

So I met this morning with DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier, DC Transportation Director Gabe Klein, and staff from the Metropolitan Police Department and the DC DOT to see if we could brainstorm some ways to prevent future pedestrian injuries.

Meeting with DDOT's Gabe Klein and DC MPD Chief Cathy Lanier in the DOT Lincoln Room

We agreed to work on a plan that attempts to solve this problem from a variety of angles. Some ideas under consideration include:

• Extended crossing-guard hours
• Stepped-up pedestrian and vehicle enforcement
• Pedestrian training and education
• Speed trailers (the roadside digital signs that display a driver's speed)
• Prohibiting "right turn on red" in the Southeast Federal Center area

I'm encouraged by these. And--thanks to DC's DOT and our Federal Highway Administration--we already have a pedestrian workshop planned for September.

However, the quickest way I can think of to prevent more accidents like these is for employees and visitors walking to and from our building to, please, stay alert.

Whether you're a pedestrian, a bicyclist, or a driver, having the right-of-way does not guarantee your safety. When navigating around town, you must protect yourself by remaining focused and aware.

You can't cross the street safely with your head buried in the latest text messages. And you can't cross the street safely with music blasting in your headphones. Safety means keeping your mind on the traffic around you.

I am very concerned for the thousands of people coming into and out of our building each day, so I appreciate Gabe Klein and Chief Lanier coming in today to help us address this issue.

I hope you'll stay tuned to see what ideas we put into action.

Comments

[KenF]

It would help if Ms. Lanier would make her police actually enforce the law against drivers who violate pedestrian. and bicycle rights, instead of always blaming the pedestrian or bicyclist.

[Marty Barfowitz]

Stepped up pedestrian education? Really? Isn't it the motorists who are running over your employees while they legally cross the street in the crosswalk the ones who need to be better educated?

[mcas]

Tragic, but why does this post read like a tsk tsk'ing of pedestrians who have the right of way, rather than the folks operating 3,000 pound vehicles at high speeds? In the 1920's and 30's, it was considered improper to threaten the safety of another road user with your car... now, we relegate humans to 'crosswalks' and still blame them when they get hit. What a sad day on America's streets.

[Jesse]

Secretary LaHood,

As a U.S. DOT employee who works in the West Building (FMCSA), I was shocked to hear that two U.S. DOT employees have been struck and killed while crossing M Street. As a pedestrian myself, I was unaware of these fatalities.

I frequently cross at 3rd & M Street in front of the U.S. DOT plaza where the farmer's market is typically held. However, the walk signal at this small intersection is not automatic. Pedestrians must push a button to activate the walk signal. Most pedestrians who come to this intersection usually don't press the button as the waiting period is simply TOO long (a good 2 or 3 minutes - who's gonna wait that long?). Instead, they take their chances and dash across during breaks in traffic. This is extremely dangerous and definitely an accident waiting to happen.

Would it be possible to install an automatic walk signal at 3rd and M Street? Also, would it be possible to shorten the waiting period for the walk signal?

A more drastic proposal would be to widen the median on M Street by removing the outbound lane in each direction. That would provide just enough space in the middle of the street for a "pedestrian-island" or refuge to pedestrians who often must sprint to get across M Street.

If you would like your community livability initiative to succeed, then more attention must be paid to pedestrian safety, especially with the design and location of sidewalks, crosswalks, crossing signals, and pedestrian islands.

Thank you so much for focusing some much-needed attention on this pedestrian issue.

Jesse

[Pete]

Speed-bumps before the crossings would be nice. I know it causes a slow down of traffic, but the amount of pedestrian crossing justifies it, I think.

[John]

In my driver education class, I spend a lot of time discussing "sharing the road." Whether you are a pedestrian, motorist or cyclist, you have to be alert. The "watch out for the other guy" saying applies here.

[Sleepylemur]

Do you have any indication or evidence that this pedestrian wasn't alert? This seems a callous commentary on this person's tragedy.

Good advice, though. If you're a ped or biker, caveat transitor. Cars are dangerous.

[Angus Grieve-Smith]

The enforcement efforts are good, Mr. Secretary, if you can get the MPD to sustain them. But what about infrastructure - traffic calming? Is the traffic on those streets really heavy enough to warrant that width? Why not sidewalk extensions?

[Christian]

Sadly, this is the same story heard around almost all colleges lately. While at the Savannah College of Art and Design, we had a few classmates get struck by vehicles. One of the students was in a body cast for a year as a result. The story seemed to always be the same... "riding a bicycle and not respecting traffic laws or walking in the middle of the road while texting.

Sadly, people blame the drivers of vehicles even when they are put in positions where it's impossible to not hit someone on a bike.
I'm wondering if anyone ever\n knows of "1" person who has ever received a ticket for running a stop sign while on a bike...?

[Allan]

It seems like the solution might be to design the road for slower traffic. Basically, make drivers feel less safe with street trees and narrower lanes so that they focus and slow down. Crossing guards are way too expensive... folks should be able to cross the street without being run down. Sorry to hear that folks don't drive carefully in your town. I don't think I'll ever mode back to DC, my childhood home, after realizing what true multi-modal society can be like (in PDX).

[John Z Wetmore]

Large trucks have a blind spot for pedestrians immediately in front of their grill.

A truck waiting first-in-line at a traffic signal might not be able to see a pedestrian in the crosswalk. A truck waiting in a driveway might not be able to see a pedestrian on the sidewalk. This is especially true for short pedestrians, such as the elderly, children, and wheelchair users. When the truck starts moving, the result is very unpleasant.

Often these are dismissed as freak accidents, but they are the direct result of a design failure.

There is a very low tech solution for this, one that has been used on school buses for decades. A pair of convex mirrors, on the left and right front of the truck, would allow the truck driver to see what is immediately in front of him. These are called Crossover Mirrors.

It is time to address this design failure.

[Michael E. Bailey]

Pedestrian safety is a major issue nation-wide, I think. In the disabled community, it is very important that we have safe, accessible streets to go with accessible bus stops and more accessible buses. It is not one or the other; it is the integration of all those things that we need. And I think a no right turn on a red light is a good step in the right direction. I have 2 wheelchair bound friends--each needs power wheelchairs to get around and each has had problems with streets and traffic. One was hit by a car at a bus stop and got both legs broken. The other was hit by a car making a right turn on a red light while she was in the crosswalk in her chair; and she said she had almost been hit at the same crossing a number of times. In another case not involving a wheelchair, another girl I know was running from her workshop across the street before the cross signal went to don't walk tripped and knocked out some teeth and broke her jaw. Several other people I know have had incidents. I have been hit one time and that not bad enough to keep me from going to work and doing my shift. In my case I was hit by a car doing a right turn on a red light at the bottom of the ramp that connects our city hall parking lot to Marguerite Parkway. I was only touched slightly so it didn't interere any with my work at the library. But safe, accessible streets are necessary and pedestrians if they are disabled or not need to know what is going on while crossing streets. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[William Bailey]

I feel like you need to see this as an opportunity to focus on how our roadways are not designed to accommodate pedestrians safely. A crossing guard is a short sighted idea for an elite few with the money to pay someone to protect them. I'm discouraged to see that over half the ideas you listed are aimed at pedestrians, while I do agree better ped ed will help, the biggest issue is creating roads that move priority from speed to safety. A 175lb person needs all the advantage they can get over a 45mph 3700lb vehicle. Why not install speed tables or speed cushions. Too many of our streets are just dangerous by design, use this chance to improve the design. You are the one man with the resources and power to do so. Show the rest of the nation how to make cars and pedestrian co-exist. While pedestrian distraction may play some part, that can not relieve motor vehicle drivers of the burden of operating a fast moving lethal machine on roads shared with slow moving, unarmored pedestrians and cyclists. Too many people are being hit in crosswalks, and often the single biggest factor is the speed of the traffic on the road, which the road is designed to encourage. For years Transporation has simply meant moving as many vehicles as quickly as safely possible. Let's change that to "as safe as possible for ALL road users"

[Seth]

That is too bad - tragic. Sometimes, though, I feel like pedestrians don't take the responsibility to watch where they are going. Anyone in either a car or on foot needs to realize they aren't the only person in the world and everything will stop for them. This isn't always true, but i've noticed this in Missouri.

[Pam Peckham]

"•Prohibiting "right turn on red" in the Southeast Federal Center area" is not enough of a turn prohibition to make an impact. Vehicles have a hard time turning right on green with so many pedetrians crossing the street.

M Street SE is a 6 lane street. This intersection with heavy pedestrian use (six lanes of pavement to cross), warrants greater control of vehicles than other streets in the District.

All vehicle turns should be prohibited at the intersection of New Jersey Ave SE & M St SE. There are too many pedestrians exiting the Navy Yard Metro Station and crossing the street. The high number of pedestrians makes turning at this intersection a difficult maneuver for vehicles. Vehicles should not be allowed to make any turns at this intersection, and only turn at blocks where pedestrians are not exiting from the Navy Yard Metro Station.

[T]

Considering the heavy pedestrian traffic everyday, especially on those days with games, why not just build a metro exit (tunnel) on the DOT side (say, somewhere between the DOT buildings and the Stadium)? I know, it may cost some money. But, in the long run, it is actually more cost effective. After all, safety is always DOT's top priority, right?

[Omarr Lee]

Hi, my name is Omarr Lee, and I am a proud employee at DOT. I truly support Secretary LaHood's pedestrian safety concerns, and I likewise support the ideas for solving the pedestrian safety issues, and I will help anyway I can. Here at the DOT, we are one big family, and we must make sure that everyone is safe.

[Karl Schuler]

The incidents and close calls over the last year point to a systemic problem. I agree that pedestrains need to look out for their own safety and assume vehicles are not necessarily stopping for them. However, a metro tunnel or a pedestrian bridge may need to be considered as a long term solution before someone else dies or is seriously hurt. I'm not sure the crossing guards are effective, given that they have been on duty for the last several weeks and this recent accident still happened.

[Barry Childress]

I will strongly encourage you to get involved with DC's Street Smart Campaign (otherwise known as pedestrains don't get hit by cars campaign. See our bill boards: http://www.baltometro.org/public/StreetSmartAds.pdf )

DC's Street Smart campaign is copied over to Maryland (the 6th highest pedestrian fatality rate) so we could really use some good quality input.

Thanks!

[Peter Smith]

I definitely think pedestrians need more training. As soon as that lady gets out of the hospital, get her back in that crosswalk and doing some training. Yes - get that lady some training, quick.

[Jason B]

Why not go the way of Las Vegas and build elevated walkways over the road ways to eliminate the hazard of crossing the street? I am not familiar with the area of DC being described but instead of putting band-aids on the problem, engineer the problem away!

[Faith C.]

How about DOT sponsors a complete streets demonstration project in our own backyard? We could create a home grown road diet for M Street from Waterfront Metro to Barracks Row. Maybe the Navy and the Waterfront Metro developers would partner with us? Phasing is just fine - and we can start with our own couple of blocks.

DC could lower the speed limit (or employ a speed limit display sign - or maybe DOT already has one of those some place?), we could add a bike lane or two, create wider vegetated medians that narrow the travels lanes (and slow traffic), and introduce mid-block crosswalks that are not signalized.

Great opportunity to lead by example. There would be widespread staff interest in helping to design a system that works for all roadway / sidewalk / transit / bike lane users.

As a first step, OST could create an easy survey monkey to gauge staff interest and identify volunteers. Wonderful way to strengthen DOT community partnership (and volunteerism on a tangible deliverable) at home.

[Faith C.]

How about DOT sponsors a complete streets demonstration project in our own backyard? We could create a home grown road diet for M Street from Waterfront Metro to Barracks Row. Maybe the Navy and the Waterfront Metro developers would partner with us? Phasing is just fine - and we can start with our own couple of blocks.

DC could lower the speed limit (or employ an actual speed display sign for motorists - maybe DOT already has one of those?), we could add a bike lane or two, create wider vegetated medians that narrow the travels lanes (and slow traffic), and introduce mid-block crosswalks that are not signalized.

Great opportunity to lead by example. There would be widespread staff interest in helping to design a system that works for all roadway / sidewalk / transit / bike lane users.

As a first step, OST could create an easy survey monkey to gauge staff interest and identify volunteers. Wonderful way to strengthen DOT community partnership (and volunteerism on a tangible deliverable) at home.

[Alan Jeeves]

Back in the 1970s, the traffic signal at the intersection of 14th and F NW stopped traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians complete clearance to cross in all directions at the same time including diagonally corner to corner. When the traffic had the right of way, pedestrians had Don't Walk signals. This would eliminate the competition between pedestrians and turning vehicles. It would also be a low cost solution to a very serious problem. This would really be a good thing at the NJ and M intersection, but might also be a good idea at some of the other M street crossings near the Stadium.

[Paul Feinbaum]

That is terribly sad to hear about the accidents near the HQ's. Ultimately everyone is responsible for themselves but as a society we have to take every reasonable precaution possible. I like the ideas in your post. Thanks