October 1, 2008
Pedestrian Struck on Connecticut Ave.
There's some early reports that a pedestrian has been struck by a vehicle on Connecticut Ave. NW near Nebraska Ave. NBC4 says that Connecticut is currently closed between Nebraska and Fessenden, and that the car was a white Dodge Neon. Police radio reports indicate the victim died before EMS reached the scene. We'll update when we know more.
UPDATE: More from NBC4, who confirms that the elderly man who was struck died in the crash. Police are investigating whether the man was in the crosswalk. The road may be closed for several more hours, so it would be wise to take another route north out of the city this evening -- we'd recommend either taking Wisconsin north and cutting across at Military Road, or sticking to 16th Street.
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this is frank winstead territory. i wonder if he's going to have a statment...
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I guess Robert Novak had to trade down to a Neon to pay restitution on his last encounter with a pedestrian.
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white Dodge Neon ... with Maryland tags I bet.
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If the poor guy doesn't pull through are we going to dedicate a pair of "ghost shoes"?
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This is the third death on that stretch of Conn Ave in the last year, and just last week, another pedestrian was struck near the Avalon Theater in Chevy Chase, DC.
When will the political leadership, DDOT and MPD take immediate steps to rectify what DDOT calls the 'culture of civility' to our streets.
This is completely senseless.
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Please don't tell people to use 16th street to get home. There are enough Murrahland dickheads driving warp speed on it as is.
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I live just north of this and cars rarely stop for me when I am at a crosswalk. With people going on to Wisconsin(which is the street my bus takes), it should be a fun time getting home. Sorry to hear about the death.
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So will this driver just be fined with the $50 failure to yield to a pedestrian like Novak?
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When will the political leadership, DDOT and MPD take immediate steps to rectify what DDOT calls the 'culture of civility' to our streets.
Why do you hate drivers so? I see pedestrians cross against the light all the time in this city. In fact I come very close to running down at least a dozen pedestrians and cyclists every time I drive to get a gallon of milk.
In any case, I find this deceased pedestrian's attitude of arrogance and entitlement pretty galling. We need to make sure that *everyone* obeys the law...
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"We need to make sure that *everyone* obeys the law..."
Great! First step: draconian enforcement of the speed limits. The likelihood of a pedestrian surviving a crash is much higher when the car is going 25 miles an hour. Let's just set all speed limits at that and enforce it rigidly. Because it's all about *everyone* obeying the laws, right?
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The number of idiots I almost hit every day while driving is insane. The way they walk right in front of traffic, at any given time... I have people just walk out in front of me in the middle of the road so that I have to slam on my breaks not to hit them on a daily basis.
Places like the stretch of Vermont Ave between Thomas Circle and K st have such a high quantity of people walking right in the middle of the road on such a regular basis, that it's almost like it's a giant sidewalk, and cars are the strangers there.
I'm just worried that one of these days, someone is going to walk in front of me and I'm not going to have time to stop.
So considering the level of stupidity that goes on with people walking into traffic in this city, I would venture so far as to not blame the driver right off.
In fact, any human being with a vague level of intelligence should realize that some people are assholes behind the wheel, and they should watch out for traffic no matter what the situation. You know what I do before walking into traffic? I look both ways. As anyone with any respect for their own life should have learned when they were 4.
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"The number of idiots I almost hit every day while driving is insane."
And I'm sure the number of times you've almost hit them when you were actually driving the posted speed limit is nearly zero. But no, it's the pedestrian's fault that they're dead when you hit them going 10 miles over the speed limit (people's chances of surviving getting hit by a car go up dramatically when the car is going less than 30 mph).
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" "We need to make sure that *everyone* obeys the law..."
Great! First step: draconian enforcement of the speed limits. The likelihood of a pedestrian surviving a crash is much higher when the car is going 25 miles an hour. Let's just set all speed limits at that and enforce it rigidly. Because it's all about *everyone* obeying the laws, right?"
If by "rigid" enforcement you mean speed cameras on damn near every block, count me in.
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I never drive my car in DC. Always walked instead and I can tell you that any pedestrian who is speaking the truth knows that he/she has crossed against the light; crossed not at a cross walk; and has made cars slow down or stop in doing so.
DC is lucky to not have more people hit by cars. Something needs to be done to counter this culture of pedestrians thinking they can cross whenever they want.
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This was an extremely gruesome scene - this man passed before anyone even arrived at the accident. Major Crash Unit is investigating- way too early to start the blame game. Just pay attention to what you are doing and follow traffic laws.
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Something needs to be done to counter this culture of pedestrians thinking they can cross whenever they want.
Jesus Christ, irony really is dead.
Here's a law I can get behind: if you hit a pedestrian with a car, you go to fucking jail. Period.
And if this law were passed, drivers would have a choice: either drive carefully, *below* the speed limit, or keep their fucking car off the streets of the District. There are plenty of other options you have to get around.
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I have a car that I love dearly, but I'm not a commuter. I am shocked at the number of times that I approach an intersection on foot and see people walk straight into the intersection, against the signal, without even looking up. If you don't put at least a little effort into your own self-preservation, you have to accept some of the blame.
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I used to live 2 buildings north of that intersection on Connecticut... and barely a week would go by without a near-miss involving a vehicle and a pedestrian, or multiple vehicles.
The presence of speed/red light cameras on that intersection has really done nothing to stop people running that light or making stupid turns. It's a fairly visible intersection, so there's no real reason why a motorist wouldn't be able to see a pedestrian.
About 3 years ago we had a young guy in one of those big landscaping company trucks run a red on Nebraska avenue and t-bone the car of a pregnant woman. If I'm not mistaken, both she and the fetus didn't survive the accident.
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ibc:
You can't be serious? If a person walks out in traffic on Conn. Ave without the light in their favor most of the time they are asking to get hit. Cars are going over 30 MPH because they are allowed to on that street. In addition, most cars have to watch for cars double parked and cabs who like to change lanes without notice. It is very easy to hit someone who is jay walking on that road.
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Cars are going over 30 MPH because they are allowed to on that street..
I know this is probably beyond the realm of imagination for most commuters in this country, but here's a hypothetical: what if the speed limit was reduced to 20 mph on all roads within the district? This is roughly the speed a fit bicyclist could ride.
If that were the case, pretty much all non-motorized users of the streets would be infinitely safer, and the inconvenience for drivers would be minimized.
So tell me: Why should anyone be allowed to operated a motor vehicle in an urban environment at anything over 20? It's like letting those little carts at the airport go 30 mph, then, when there are inevitably casualties, blaming pedestrians for "not playing by the rules."
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"The number of idiots I almost hit every day while driving is insane."
And I'm sure the number of times you've almost hit them when you were actually driving the posted speed limit is nearly zero. But no, it's the pedestrian's fault that they're dead when you hit them going 10 miles over the speed limit (people's chances of surviving getting hit by a car go up dramatically when the car is going less than 30 mph).
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As a matter of fact, I'm going the speed limit or lower 95% of the time. I've also never been pulled over anywhere for anything, much less a speeding violation. You can fall back on baseless claims to defend retarded human beings, but you're still wrong. Or are you defending yourself?
I walk in DC, and I drive in DC, and speaking from the point of view of someone that sees both sides of the story, EVERYONE needs to follow general traffic laws, including pedestrians.
If you don't have the sense to not walk into the street ILLEGALLY, where you KNOW there are going to be cars, that are SUPPOSED to be there, then getting hit and dying is natural selection at work.
That's like jumping off a cliff and blaming gravity.
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And as for lowering the speed limit to 20:
Why lower the speed limit to 20 because pedestrians are breaking the law? Maybe we should make it illegal to walk the streets at night because people get mugged sometimes.
Here's an idea! Instead of replacing sense and logic with stricter laws, why not JUST GET SMARTER.
Hey everyone, let's try take control of our own well being and stop asking someone to hold our hands when we cross the street. Unless maybe that's too much responsibility?
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As a matter of fact, I'm going the speed limit or lower 95% of the time. I've also never been pulled over anywhere for anything, much less a speeding violation.
Congratulations! You're the one driver in the DC metropolitan area who drives a car "the speed limit or lower 95% of the time." (I suspect this is BS, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.)
See, most people do "about 5 mph over", which means between 7-15 mph over, unless they're on the highway, in which case it's 15-25 mph over, and blow smoke up their own ass that they're doing the speed limit. Like I said, we'll assume that's not you.
As to your second point, ("I've also never been pulled over anywhere for anything, much less a speeding violation") you'll want to give yourself a big pat on the back for that one.
Do police pull people over for traffic violations anymore?
I don't understand why a 20 mph triggers your glibertarian switch. We've basically given over our urban spaces for the primary use of automobiles--which means primarily non-DC residents in this city--while building an elaborate set of laws and infrastructure to get pedestrians to stay out of the way, be ever-vigilant, yield right-of-way 99% of the time, and be held responsible for any and all collisions.
But you're right, blame it on the 85 year-old who's not sufficient defferential to the almighty car.
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I'm not referring specifically to the case of the 85-year old. I'm referring to people walking into traffic in general.
As for complaining that DC doesn't allow enough accessibility to people that are walking... Are you kidding me? I walk around DC every day, and find that it's more than supportive of it. There are sidewalks everywhere, and lights telling me exactly how many seconds I can walk. I very rarely have to wait at a light for more than a few seconds.
I just can't see how you can defend people walking into traffic when they're not supposed to. Do you plan to teach your children not to look both ways, because they have the vindictive right to step in front of a moving cars?
All I'm saying is that the speed limit doesn't need to be lowered, because the speed limit works. If drivers stopped being reckless, they wouldn't hit people. And if People stopped being reckless, they wouldn't get hit by drivers.
I'm not defending anyone, I think everyone should stop being stupid when it comes to traffic. Don't even get me started on people that feel they have the right to drive into your lane on circles while you're already in it. But laying the blame solely on the drivers, in cases where pedestrians are doing something wrong, is nonsensical.
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you can tell a thread is doing pretty well around here when the comments all start growing to 5-6 paragraphs in length...
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forthewin:
You may be a perfectly law abiding driver, but it's clear to any halfway observant person that the other half-million people driving in cars on DC streets pretty much only care about getting from point A to B ASAP.
Sure, pedestrians walk into traffic, but can you cite any cases in DC where that's killed a motorist? Meanwhile, 5 minutes on any downtown street will turn up motorists who: speed, encroach on crosswalks, make illegal turns, etc & etc, any and all of which behaviors can and do kill pedestrians in this city each year.
All I'm really saying is that motorists are capable of far greater harm when they break the law and so, morally, the greater onus to obey the law is on them. That, and the corollary fact that pedestrians (and cyclists!) who break the law largely endanger themselves.
Not that I'm a huge fan of suicide, but I'm a much lesser fan of manslaughter.
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Fair enough reasoning. I'd have to agree with you. The only point I'm really trying to make, is that even though drivers have more responsibility, we always have the option of keeping ourselves safer from bad drivers through a little bit of awareness.