Photo by LOOKING S I D E W A Y S.

In 2007, Martha Schoenborn and Sally McGhee were killed after being run over by a Metrobus as they crossed Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Later that year, a Rockville man was killed after a Metrobus struck him while he was in a crosswalk. In October 2009, a woman was exiting a D8 Metrobus when another bus struck her as she attempted to cross the street.

I’m not rehashing these incidents to belabor the fact that Metro has an issue with bus and pedestrian safety. That much is painfully obvious. I do so to consider whether the installation of an audio recording which blares “pedestrian, this bus is turning!” from Metrobuses really addresses the key issue at hand: that Metrobus operators proceed through crosswalks far too quickly.

Metro has told numerous sources that the audio — which also electronically states the message in Spanish — is part of a public-address pilot program. The buses appear to be popping up in several D.C. neighborhoods, including Mount Pleasant, Logan Circle, Chinatown and Brookland. The recording is quite loud and irritating, as this video from Unsuck DC Metro proves. One DCist staff member described the recording as “very loud” and “pretty intense,” even from inside the vehicle. The trigger for the sound appears to be buses’ turn signaling mechanism — so not only does the vehicle make the noise when it is turning, but also when it is merging in traffic and pulling away from the curb.