The growing number of people killed on D.C. roads could spur major changes聽to traffic laws, roadway and development design, and parking enforcement.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 care if you鈥檙e walking or if you鈥檙e riding or if you鈥檙e driving,聽you deserve to get from point A to point B safely. But our streets are not聽designed for safety. They鈥檙e designed to move cars,鈥� Councilman Charles聽Allen said.
He introduced a wide-ranging bill Tuesday, with the support of a majority聽of the council, that would ban all right turns on red and limit speeds to聽25 mph on many roads. Neighborhood streets would have 20 mph speed limits.聽The consequences of a crash jump dramatically as speeds increase.
鈥淚t鈥檚 too easy to speed and plenty of intersections are a tragedy waiting聽to happen based on the way they鈥檝e been designed,鈥� Allen said.
The bill also pushes for faster redesigns of roads to address safety issues, increasing the use of all-way stop signs at intersections, and聽increasing requirements for large private developments to include sidewalks,聽crosswalks, bike lanes and to include plans to prevent delivery trucks or聽pickups and drop offs from blocking sidewalks and bike lanes.
Drivers would also be required to take a written test not only as part of聽the process to get a new license, but also to renew a license.
鈥淲e all felt the urgency of doing more to make it safer to travel in our聽city following the weekend around April 19 鈥� I know I did 鈥� when three people聽were killed while on District roads,鈥� Allen said.
Two more people died this weekend due to traffic crashes.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 now 10 people that have died in traffic collisions this year,鈥澛燗llen said.
Allen鈥檚 bill would also test a system where normal D.C. residents could get聽some basic training and then enforce parking rules by taking a photo of the聽car double parked in traffic, blocking a bike lane or otherwise violating聽the law.
It would also require all DDOT capital projects to increase traffic safety or聽transit equity, clarify the city鈥檚 ability to impound cars parked illegally聽in crosswalks and bike lanes and allow the impounding of parked cars with聽five speeding violations at 31 mph or more over the speed limit or聽violations for passing another car stopped for pedestrians in a crosswalk.
鈥淪afe streets are for everyone, and they need to be in every neighborhood聽across our city,鈥� Allen said.
Other proposals include more open data requirements on crashes and聽speeding, and a $10,000 per day fine for contractors who do not fully聽restore a street within 24 hours of completing excavation work. The fine聽would apply if they failed to reapply lane markings, crosswalks or bike
lanes.
In addition to safety, the bill sets out new steps toward the District鈥檚聽goal of cutting car use to reduce pollution. The efforts would be part of聽District Department of Transportation plans that would be approved by the聽council every two years. The plan would be required to list one street or聽bus line in each ward that will get a dedicated bus lane.
The details of the proposals could be tweaked as the bill goes through the聽committee process.
Separately, the council backed emergency legislation Tuesday focused聽specifically on Florida Avenue in Northeast, where Dave Salovesh was killed last month聽by a driver who was speeding away from police. DDOT has been working on聽temporary safety fixes there, near Gallaudet University, that could include聽jersey wall barriers.
