While I was dealing with doctors, chemo and its aftereffects, I still kept up on news as best I could. As readers of this blog know, one of the prime dangers to pedestrians, in addition to bicyclists using the sidewalk as their personal expressways, is bicyclists running red lights. Although running red lights is against the law throughout DC for bicyclists as well as autos, this law is virtually never enforced against bicyclists. Yet every day I walked to work I had to be especially alert for bicyclists running the red lights, often after appearing from behind stopped cars to fly through the light. This behavior is a daily occurrence and many pedestrians have been injured either by being hit a glancing blow or by falling trying to get out of the way to avoid being hit. Still no enforcement. But this spring two deaths pointed to the need for MPD to take this problem more seriously.
Pedestrian, Jane Bennett Clark
The first event was the death of Kiplinger editor, Jane Bennett Clark. On March 9, at evening rush hour, she was going home from her office when she stepped off the curb into the pedestrian crosswalk with the walk signal and all cars stopped. She had every right to expect she would get safely to the other side where the Metro Station was. Instead she was hit by a bicyclist running the red light. While the Post article was not specific regarding her injuries, I am pretty sure that her head hit the concrete street, which is a virtual death sentence particularly for older people. Despite being rushed to the hospital by DC Fire and EMS, she died the next day. So far the 27-year old male bicyclist has only been charged with “disobeying a traffic control device” according to a Post report in April. While the article I read indicated the investigation was ongoing, I have read nothing further since April.
Nor have I read any comment by Mr. “do nothing for the people” Ward 2 council member Jack Evans. When I was first campaigning to keep bicyclists from riding on the sidewalks, I was told by his office that I needed a group behind me before he would pay any attention and a member of my own Dupont Circle Citizens Association cautioned me that “some one important” needed to be hurt before anyone in office would pay attention. And I’m sure Ms. Bennett Clark’s death got more press because she was well-known, unlike the Asian man a couple of years before who was hit by a hit and run bicyclist on Capitol Hill on a Thanksgiving Day weekend. I remember hunting for news of his death a couple of days later and finding only a one-liner in regional news. To me every person is important and one death is one too many. Still I see little evidence that this daily danger to pedestrians is being taken seriously by the MPD or City Council.
I was encouraged by the comment responses to the article on the charge brought against the bicyclist in Ms. Bennett Clark’s case. Although I read and printed out only the first 20 comments of 233, every comment, most from responsible bicyclists, showed that ordinary people know how wrong the current situation is. These comments were representative:
Dan Schiff: I am a cyclist and I am often more fearful of other cyclists than I am of drivers. I blame lack of enforcement of cycling laws, as well as inadequate bike infrastructure, which makes some cyclists feel like they have to be rogue ninjas to navigate the streets.
Cyclists should follow the same safety rules as everyone else: Be aware of what’s in front of you, to your sides, and behind you. Yield to pedestrians. Make yourself seen and heard.
Mike Pcf1: Like some of the posts below, I work in DC and bicyclists never stop at read lights or obey most traffic laws. If you don’t get out of their way crossing the street they give you the dirty look when they should be the one yielding. I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents like these. Police need to crack down on cyclists who run red lights.
Bialk: As a life-long bicyclist, I am the first to say something has to be done about bicyclists in DC. There are apparently no laws and certainly no enforcement governing their apparently free-for-all use of roads and sidewalks. While some oblige, most completely disregard traffic laws. The police need to get off their phones and actually do something.
Other commenters, bicyclists themselves, brought up the need for licensing bicyclists and tests to get them as other states require. And one commenter brought up the sidewalk bicycling issue:
Starling1: Earlier this week, I was walking, just before sunset, on the sidewalk. A bicyclist passed me, just barely missing me. I had no idea he was there until he was beside me. If I had moved even 6 inches to my left, he would have hit me, and I would have been fortunate to avoid the hospital or morgue. Virginia law requires bicyclists to ride in the street and observe the same laws as motorists. This bicyclists should be charged wit manslaughter or vehicular homicide.
Ordinary people understand the need for stranger laws and enforcement of the ones that exist. How long before the Powers-That-Be wake up and do something?
Bicyclist, Dan Neidhardt
Sadly, when bicyclists disobey traffic laws that are their for everyone’s safety, sometimes the bicyclist is the victim. That is what happened to Dan Neidhardt when on April 28 he rode through a red light and collided with a pickup truck at First Street and Florida Avenue NW. The Post also wrote more than one story about him because he was part of a small artist community in Brookland. According to the May 13 article, Mr. Neidhardt had taken up cycling as part of his exercise regimen as he turned 70. Four years later he’s obviously become as serious cyclist, takin on 20 mile rides and riding a $5000 carbon road bicycle. But sadly he never learned the rules of the road. His death could have been avoided if he had and the Brookland artist community wouldn’t have lost a friend. This tragedy is yet another argument for licensing bicyclists as we do auto drivers. At lead they will know the rules when they set out instead of just watching others who may be intentionally ignoring them. Whether cyclists follow the rules or not is their choice. But more enforcement of existing laws would help them make the right choice.
This has been a long post. So I will just end by saying, to pedestrians, bicyclists and auto drivers alike–BE ALERT; DON’T GET HURT.
dc pedestrian diaries 