Charletta Washington, chief operating officer at United Medical Center, speaking at press conference this morning (Photo by Christina Sturdivant)

Emebet Kebede had just left work at the United Medical Center when she was fatally struck by a car in the 1300 block of Southern Avenue SE.

“I received a call from my colleague,” said Charletta Washington, chief operating officer at United Medical Center, recounting how she heard the news of Kebede’s death last August. “That phone call would shake me to my core—it would shake this community and this hospital to their core as well.”

Washington spoke this morning—just yards from the crash scene—at a press conference announcing the Street Smart campaign, a bi-annual effort organized by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The program is comprised of police and transportation agencies from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, which educate residents about traffic laws and enforce penalties to those who violate them.

To enhance this year’s campaign efforts, the Metropolitan Police Department will be “deploying high visibility enforcement initiatives” throughout the month of November, said Commander Jeffrey Carroll of MPD.

After hitting Kebede, 32-year-old Rahveed Comford fled the scene, but he was arrested a month later for involuntary manslaughter. Kebede is one of 75 pedestrians and bicyclists who were killed in traffic incidents throughout the region last year, including 15 pedestrians and one cyclist in D.C. They were memorialized this morning through a display of 75 pair of gently worn white shoes.

75 people killed last year in the region were memorialized through a display of gently worn white shoes. (Photo by Christina Sturdivant)

So far this year, D.C. has seen 26 traffic fatalities—the same number recorded for all of 2015, according to an MPD tracker. This includes a man who was trapped under a vehicle after he stepped into the street between cars near Thomas Circle in April, as well as 23-year-old Jerrel Elliott, a cyclist who was killed in a Southeast hit-and-run in June, and Armin Amin-Toomaji, co-owner of Chaplin’s in Shaw, who was walking not far his restaurant when he was hit by a 2003 Mercedes Benz in August.

“If the thought of injury or death isn’t enough to cause you to be more careful, area police will be giving even more reasons to obey traffic safety laws,” said Carroll. In the District, he continued, increased enforcement is coming to drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians through November. D.C. traffic tickets range from $40 to $500.

This month is significant because it kicks off daylight savings time, when sunlight fades during evening rush hours. In November and December of last year, crashes involving pedestrians in the region spiked to more than 550 incidents—21 percent higher than average, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Nationally, 72 percent of pedestrian fatalities occurred in the dark last year, with 26 percent occurring between 6 and 8:59 p.m.

In a previous year’s Street Smart efforts, an officer was spotted making sure cyclists obeyed the red light at 14th and U Streets NW, while others were seen pulling over cars not yielding the right-of-way to pedestrians.

This year, police will focus on identifying speeding as well as drunk and aggressive driving, Carroll told DCist. Officers will target areas that have seen repeated traffic violations, such as Southern Avenue where Kebede and 68-year-old Faith Pines were both killed last year. Other targeted spots throughout the city are still being identified, as behaviors tend to change from year to year, Carroll said.

Cyclists should pay attention to signs and signals, ride in the direction of traffic, “and always use a light at night,” Carroll said. And walkers should also obey crossing signals, as well as travel within crosswalks. Street Smart’s website has a complete list of traffic laws for the region.

As in 2013, the campaign is releasing ads of pedestrians and cyclists with tire treads across their faces. The visuals “call attention to the dangers confronting pedestrians and bicyclists with the larger-than-life faces of area residents on ads” that appear on buses and in transit places across the region, campaign organizers said at the time.

Street Smart ad (Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Council of Governments)

The regional effort also coincides with Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement of Vision Zero, said Leif Dormsjo, Director of the District Department of Transportation, in a release. Bowser released an action plan in December to bring the Swedish concept to D.C., in an effort to reach zero traffic-related deaths or injuries by 2024.

“It’s especially important for drivers to slow down and be on the look-out for people walking and biking who are the most vulnerable to serious injuries or death in traffic crashes,” Dormsjo said.