Comments on: Police identify pedestrian killed in 16th St collision

By: LuvMyHood

LuvMyHood — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:03:40 +0000

Silver Spring Transportation and Pedestrian Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday 12/1/09 at 7:30 p.m. in the Silver Spring Regional Center (8435 Georgia Ave, at the corner of Georgia and Wayne).
1) Silver Spring’s new civic projects — the transit center, the library, and the civic building/plaza — will all bring new pedestrian and traffic patterns.
) Pedestrian safety news, improvements and ideas for the Silver Spring/Takoma Park region:
– Survey of recent pedestrian safety incidents, issues and suggestions
(accidents, difficult corners, broken signals, crosswalks, sidewalks, etc.)
including the recent pedestrian death at Colesville and 16th St.

By: KD from Ohio

KD from Ohio — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:18:56 +0000

I knew Bill as he was the pastor of my church when I was in high school. He was a very nice, generous, and good pastor. I am also a frequent visitor to this area and know the dangers of Colesville Rd. and East-West Highway.

Being from a small town, the amount of traffic and speed at which it moves amazes me. I hope the tragic death of Bill will inspire local officials to take the necessary measures to try to improve crossings in the area.

By: Sinjun

Sinjun — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:24:26 +0000

I live on the corner of Eastern and Colesville. I have been here since August 2008 and am appalled that this traffice “circle” has not yet been modified. I’ve seen a number of collisions, some fender benders, some people being transported by ambulance, people crashing into the now-cut-down tree that was in the circle, two children trapped in an overturned van…

At one point, if anyone else remembers the details please add…there were group of what looked like graduate students who sat on the small rise by the fountain all day and monitored traffic/traffic light activity. They said it had to do with improving the timing of the lights to prevent collisions etc. and it was for some sort of urban planning group (?). but it seems nothing ever came of it and i can’t figure out how to track down that project or what happened to it.

I called the transportation and pedestrian safety commitee a few days ago, after seeing/hearing 3 collisions on saturday night and if anyone noticed the “welcome to DC” sign/structure on 16th was plowed into and demolished. I asked about jurisdiction since the MD/DC border is at the circle. I asked for information on whether this is on the committees radar, asked if there was data on the frequency and number of accidents/injuries/deaths from collisions at the circle, i asked if there is a plan in place to improve traffic patterns there etc. Someone from their office is supposed to get back to me. well…i won’t hold my breath.

I do think part of this has to do with narcissistic mindset in todays society. Watching the rush hour traffice from my apt is a show in how disrespectful, selfish and dangerous drivers can be in their attempt to speed home (or wherever) and do what they please on the road. Passive aggressive driving (like trying to edge people out or not let someone merge) is commonplace. I don’t think the traffic circle alone is to blame…i think drivers in the DC metro area need to realize that they don’t have some special entitlement to speed, ignore traffic laws, put others in danger because they feel their needs, like getting home quickly, are the priority.

Pedestrians, like myself (i can’t drive due to lyme disease), are in danger from these drivers. I know there are several blind people in the area and several Deaf people…these folks are at even more risk…

the traffic circle is a mess but also, drivers need to learn that their reckless driving is dangerous and selfish.

I feel horrible for the man who hit the pedestrian…i’m sure there is a great deal of grief on both sides….

i dont know what it will take to bring attention to the problems of the traffic circle…for the number of times police, firetrucks, ambulances are dispatched to the area, you’d think it would raise a red flag for the law enforcement/local gov’t. to me, its a no brainer that when police and ambulances are dispatched there numerous times during the week that someone might come to the conclusion that something needs to be done about it. I’d like to see a a research/investigatory article in a local paper or on the local news to bring attention to this.

By: brh

brh — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:15:47 +0000

Kathy – “MoCo has a total of one staffer in its pedestrian safety office…”

I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but that is really rather depressing.

By: Kathy J

Kathy J — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:02:34 +0000

BRH – understood that you are talking about sidewalks leading to road edges apart from intersections. MoCo has a total of one staffer in its pedestrian safety office, I think this question should be posed to them to give a definitive answer.

By: brh

brh — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:44:40 +0000

Kathy, please reread what I said… The bit of the code that concerns me is that for a crosswalk to exist without explicitly being marked, the sidewalks must oppose each other at “any place where 2 or more roadways of any type meet or join.” There are spots around Falkland chase where there is a crosswalk implied by the opposing sidewalks, but not at an intersection (where 2 or more roadways […] meet or join). The code therefore seems to say that those which are not at intersections (and are not at a point where the sidewalk ends) are not legal crosswalks. I’m not trying to start any fights, but I do have concerns about that area. Part of figuring out such concerns is reading through the MD codes, to see what should be pushed for concerning pedestrian safety here.

By: Kathy J

Kathy J — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:26:43 +0000

BRH – in MD law, it does not have to be MARKED to be a legal crosswalk — this is generally a rural thing, where two country roads may meetm though most all urban crossings are marked – for some idiotic reason this one is not, but the law applies throughout the county.

By: JG

JG — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:07:37 +0000

Great point Terry, the driver must feel horrible. Something like this stays with you for life.

By: Terry in Silver Spring

Terry in Silver Spring — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:02:10 +0000

In addition to expressing my sympathy for the gentleman who was killed, I’d also like to say that my heart goes out to the driver. Given where this happened, the mess that is that intersection, there’s every chance in the world that he did nothing wrong.

By: brh

brh — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:40:03 +0000

So, just wanted to verify something, because I knew that MD’s definition of crosswalk was a little out of the ordinary. I wanted to know for sure whether this spot was a legal crosswalk or not. (If it wasn’t, I still wouldn’t think to fault the pedestrian when I know that it appears to be designated for crossing. I simply wanted to know the exact legality…)

MD 21-101:i defines a crosswalk as

(1) Within the prolongation or connection of the lateral lines of sidewalks [21.101:w defines sidewalk, but for the purpose of this discussion, the sidewalk seems a sure thing…] at any place where 2 or more roadways of any type meet or join, measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the roadway; or

(2) Distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings.

Point 1 being the important one here (we should all know point 2 by now – if it looks like a crosswalk, it is a crosswalk). Point 1 seems to say that if a crosswalk is implied by sidewalks, it’s also a crosswalk… This is the situation I’ve seen around FC. What worries me is the “any place where 2 or more roadways of any type meet or join.” If this accident was at an intersection, then surely it was a legal crosswalk. But I also know that there are some points around FC where the sidewalk creates an implicit crosswalk right across the median, but not at an intersection. Am I to understand that even though these are clearly designed to be walked through, they are not legally crosswalks? If that’s the case, frankly they probably shouldn’t be there… Or the better solution would be to make them crosswalks by painting the stripes about them, put up some signs so that drivers know to slow down…

…Which is really the important part… I don’t think a lot of drivers know all the details of pedestrian right-of-way. Even if they do know, spots like this don’t make it known that there could very well be pedestrians there. Poor lighting doesn’t help. For such high stakes, there’s a lot of not knowing…