THE NORTHWEST CURRENT
D.C. Council panel mulls pedestrian, bicycle safety issues
 The hearing was televised on D.C.'s public access television channel. [Skip to my testimony, below] |
By Beth Cope
November 21, 2001
Northwest Current
Staff Writer
Bicycle couriers, speeding commuters, traffic-calming devices, the mayor's promised bike lanes, free helmet programs and D.C.'s new bicycle program were all up for discussion at the city council's recent public hearing on pedestrian and bicycle safety.
Despite the number of issues, a common attitude prevailed: "We've got to get away from the idea that cars are the easiest, fastest, cheapest way to travel," said Steven Waters, president of Walk DC.
Most of the witnesses -- speaking about various ways the city government can aid walkers and bikers -- were there because they shared Waters' belief.
The council's Committee on Public Works and the Environment, chaired by Carol Schwartz, held the public hearing on Nov 5. Council members Sandy Allen, Jim Graham and Kathy Patterson attended parts of the hearing.
"This is a very important issue -- especially in a densely populated city such as D.C., where we do have walkers," Schwartz said at the conclusion of the three-and-a-half-hour hearing. "It's a good thing to have people bicycle and walk."
Schwartz noted that the District is the third most traffic-congested region in the country. "It's not a label I particularly love hearing."
Pedestrian Concerns
About half the witnesses spoke about pedestrian safety, suggesting needs that range from more comprehensive law enforcement to adding particular traffic-curbing aids.
John Finney, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in the Palisades, spoke on the importance of, and problems with, crosswalks in the outer reaches of the District.
"Right now this is not a pedestrian-friendly city for residential neighborhoods. Traffic in our neighborhood has turned pedestrians into endangered species," Finney said, referencing a neighbor who was killed while crossing MacArthur Boulevard at a crosswalk.
Finney said there is an ambiguity in the law on crosswalks. Some signs tell drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, and others to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. He urged the council to re-examine the law and change it to require drivers to stop at all crosswalks. He also requested that fines for failure to do so be increased and that police be encouraged to enforce the law.
Adams Morgan resident Sarah Edwards concurred that drivers should stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. "I walk because I know, as we all do, that we don't need another car in the world. But sometimes it feels like a battle," she said.
Edwards also suggested starting a public campaign to increase awareness about pedestrian rights, placing two pedestrian curb cuts at each intersection, prohibiting right turn on red lights, adding a leading pedestrian interval signal on stop lights to give pedestrians time to cross before cars are allowed to make right turns, creating more on-street parking and adding bike lanes to roads.
Nadia Steinzor, a representative of the District's chapter of the Sierra Club, concurred with many of Edwards' suggestions. Steinzor suggested adding sidewalks, overpasses and underpasses for pedestrians.
"Air quality, health and traffic patterns can all be positively affected by giving help to pedestrians and bikers," she said. "In the past 20 years, the number of miles driven in D.C. has increased by three times the population increase."
Schwartz responded positively to most of the suggestions. She promised to look into the law regarding crosswalks and the possibility of creating leading pedestrian interval signals at traffic lights, which currently exist in Denver, according to an audience member.
Ken Laden, the District's associate director of transportation policy and planning, said that his agency is experimenting with an intelligent crosswalk, which monitors car speeds and triggers a stoplight when needed. He agreed that a leading pedestrian interval is "something that's worth discussing."
Drivers
While the subject of the hearing precluded testimony from driver advocates, the subject of cars and drivers was inherently intertwined with the concerns presented.
Waters, the president of Walk DC, a pedestrian advocacy organization, argued that slowing drivers through better street-engineering could aid pedestrians. "People tend to drive at whatever speed feels comfortable," he said. "If it looks like a highway, people will drive like it is one."
Council member Graham spoke similarly. "We just have to get drivers to slow down!"
Graham argued that commuters from Maryland and Virginia who turn the north-south roads into "speedways" are a major problem.
"Thirteenth Street has been one of the north-south speedways for 50 years," he said, citing a study that reported 2,000 cars per hour, compared with 800 per hour on 14th Street, which has three broad lanes in some areas.
To change that pattern, parking has been made legal on both sides of 13th Street all day. "It's a two-lane thoroughfare [now]," he said. "Every driver making a left turn becomes a single-person stop [and] slows traffic."
This change, however, is only a six-month trial, and Graham urged his constituents to support its becoming permanent. "There are seven schools on this street," he said. "We want to send the message that 13th Street is not going to be I-270 extended."
Graham also noted that 15th Street, which runs along Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park, has been converted from three lanes to one.
Another driver issue, touched on briefly, was the danger caused by people talking on cell phones while they drive. Talking on cell phones "increases the chance of an accident by four times -- equivalent to driving drunk," Waters said.
"I made a note of the mobile phone concern," Schwartz said, after Waters finished speaking. "I'm sure that's an issue we'll have to eventually tackle.
Bicyclists
Issues surrounding bicycling on city streets and trails and the courier industry dominated a large part of the meeting, with two representatives from courier companies leading off the speakers. The first, Mark Gross, addressed problems that couriers face, and he advocated for representatives to serve on the city's new bicycle council.
Gross argued that the law requiring couriers to wear license plates on their backs is problematic, because it exists but is not enforced, and because it unfairly singles couriers out of all bicyclists.
The second testimonial, written by David Isler but read by a substitute, argued for regulation of the industry and offered a proposal from the D.C. Bicycle Couriers Association. Most couriers have little to no training, he said. Some companies "wouldn't even tell their couriers what to do if they were involved in an accident," he added.
Schwartz said the committee would take the proposal seriously.
Another member of the same association, Shawn Bega, who owns a messenger company, also spoke in support of regulation, citing problematic competition and poor wages. "There are deadlines advertised that would make messengers speed" to meet the deadline, he said. If [we] created the opportunity[through regulation from them] to slow down and make a living wage, I can't imagine people wouldn't choose" to do so, he said.
Schwartz said that the porposal was a good starting place, but that she did not want to do anything that would be considered interfering with private business, or that would cause "maverick groups" that ignore regulations to ruin the industry.
From the world of recreational and commuting bicyclists were Ellen Jones and Eric Golin, of the Washington Area Bicyclists Association. They said that in their report last year they had made three requests -- for a bicycle c oordinator, a bicycle plan and a project coordinator for the Metropolitan Branch Trail. While "we can report that we've come a long way, baby," Jones said, "a well-equipped toolbox at Transportation is not the same as getting the job done."
She commended the Transportation Division for its work but cited Mayor Anthony Williams' promise last year that 100 miles of new bike lanes would be added to the city within five years, as a promise that does not look at thought it will be met. "At the rate we're going, it will take 100 years," she said.
Laden explained during his testimony that the plans for road work are drawn up a year or two before the changes are completed, which cuased a delay in work during this first of the five years. "We do envision picking up the pace," he said, noting that now all road plans must go through the bicycle office to see if lanes are appropriate.
Bicycle council
Schwartz opened the meeting by introducing the new 18-member bicycle council, composed of members appointed by the city council and chaired by Rudy Shriver.
She added that she will amend the law that establishes the council, which was written in 1985, to include an appointment from the courier industry.
At the end of the meeting, the Transportation Division's Jim Sebastian, who will serve as bicycle program manager and will staff the bicycle council, gave his testimony on bicycling in D.C. "My job is to make the city as bicycle-friendly as possible," he said in an interview after the hearing.
Sebastian will be updating the bicycle master plan which, having been written in 1975, is a little outdated. He said the expects to have that done by the end of next year.
He said the additional projects include the Metropolitan Branch Trail, a bike trail that will travel along the Red Line from Union Station to Takoma Park and eventually connect to the Capital Crescent Trail, and the Anacostia River Walk, a trail that will go from the Potomac River to the Maryland state line.
Laden, who spoke along with Sebastian and Lt. Patrick Burke, said that the Transportation Division has added 80 new bicycle ramps, created a helmet distribution program for kids, and is planning an additional 100 bike racks, a bicycle safety enforcement and education program, a citizen advisory committee and a Walk Smart program.
Burke, who serves as the traffic coordinator for the Metropolitan Police Department, discussed a photo speed enforcement program that has increased the number of tickets written by greater than six times. There are now 39 camera-controlled intersections, Burke reported, some of which show "we have seen reduction in speeds."
In terms of biker and walker violations, Burke noted the inefficacy of $5 fines, which he said the police department would support raising. Even if fines were raised, however, they are often difficult to administer because bikers and pedestrians are not required to carry identification, he noted.
Schwartz said that she thought some sort of identification requirement for all bicyclists would be a good idea.
[Jump back to the Northwest Current article, above]
Testimony Presented to the Washington D.C. City Council Committee
on Public Works and the Environment
Steven Waters, Walk DC
November 5, 2001
Good afternoon, my name is Steven Waters, and I’m the President of Walk DC. Walk DC is a pedestrian advocacy organization whose members live in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and it is affiliated with America Walks.
With commuting times still skyrocketing, road rage increasing, 250 thousand Americans dying every year due to our sedentary lifestyle, community bonds disappearing, air and water pollution increasing, and farmland disappearing, many people are reevaluating where they want to be and how they want to get there. Across the country and around the world, communities are putting more emphasis on people and less on the automobile. Here in the capital region, Washington DC stands to gain the most from the livable communities movement due to our central location as the core of this metropolitan area.
Currently it is easier, cheaper, and faster to drive than to walk for most trips in Washington DC. The old saying that “there is strength in numbers” suggests that safety and accessibility are one in the same. Safe access is absolutely critical to creating a flexible, diverse, and efficient transportation system that serves every citizen.
The District Division of Transportation has achieved some tangible progress recently that deserves our appreciation and encouragement. On 13th Street, NW, rush hour parking restrictions were eliminated between Logan Circle and Missouri Avenue. The children who attend the seven schools along this stretch are much safer than they were last year. DDOT also placed pedestrian signs in the middle of some high-traffic intersections in the city. Although these signs are helpful, DC law should allow these signs to say “Stop for pedestrians” rather than simply “Yield to pedestrians.” Countdown timers like those used in Alexandria should also be placed at high pedestrian-traffic intersections.
There are many other engineering changes that DDOT can make, but it’s important to know that not all traffic calming strategies are equally effective. People tend to drive at whatever speed feels safe, regardless of the posted speed limit, other signage, speed bumps, or rumble strips. I often say that “If it looks like a highway, it is one.” So solutions that create real and perceived conflicts cause people to drive slower 24 hours a day. Examples include street narrowing, on-street auto parking, sidewalk bulb-outs, bike lanes, tree canopies, shorter signal cycles, and two-way traffic. On-street parking creates a buffer that protects pedestrians, while slowing traffic as drivers park. Bulb-outs, like those used in Arlington, shorten the distance pedestrians are exposed to danger while also accommodating on-street parking along the rest of the street. Bike lanes make it safe enough for bicyclists that pedestrians don’t have to share the sidewalk. M Street, NW in Georgetown has six lanes for automobiles and zero for bicyclists. One-way streets and long signal cycles encourage through-traffic and make local access less efficient for drivers, walkers, and bicyclists alike. While speed bumps and rumble strips often alienate drivers without achieving the desired calming, raised crosswalks create an awareness of pedestrians who would like to cross.
There are many parking garages in our city that give exiting drivers a green light indicating that they do not need to yield when driving across the sidewalk. I have almost been hit more than once while walking by these garages. There are hundreds of walk/don’t walk lights that are no longer operational. Right-turn-on-red should be illegal because it is one of the leading causes of car/pedestrian crashes. Talking on a mobile phone while operating a motor vehicle increases the risk of a crash by about four times, roughly equivalent to driving while drunk. Hands-free phones are just as dangerous because distracted driving is mainly caused by talking to someone who isn’t aware of what is going on around the automobile.
Every corner should have not one, but two pedestrian curb cuts that point towards the other side of the street so that people who use wheelchairs and those with visual impairments are not dumped into the middle of the intersection with no idea how to get to the other side. Audible signals should also be used to help people find and cross the street. Automobile curb cuts should be discouraged except when absolutely necessary.
I encourage you all to read the DC at the Crossroads report, published this year by Friends of the Earth. It contains information specific to Washington DC’s transportation system and many recommended improvements. It is linked from the homepage of our web site at www.walkdc.org.
We’ve got to move beyond the notion that it will always be more difficult, expensive, and slower to get around without an automobile in this country. I just got back last night from spending a week in Holland, where I was reminded more than once by people from more than one country that America is the most powerful nation on the planet. We have all the technology and the expertise we need to redevelop our city’s communities to be places where living happens. Our nation’s capital must lead both our region and our planet in the effort to create livable communities for people of all ages, physical abilities, and income levels.
Thank you for this opportunity.