Adam Snider, a D.C. resident, admits he doesn’t quite feel as safe or comfortable walking around the city compared to a few years ago.
“Watching the drivers around me as I’m walking down the sidewalk, I feel like there’s a lot more speeding,” he said. “There’s a lot more reckless behavior, more running red lights, a lot more sort of scary things, frankly, that make me really look both ways, even if I have the signal when I’m crossing the street.”
He’s also a bit of an expert on traffic safety compared to most people. As a spokesman for the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, it’s an issue he pays a lot of attention to.
On Tuesday, new data from GHSA showing a slight decline in the number of crashes that left a pedestrian dead last year, paints a different picture around here.
“Our data analysis showed that in D.C. and Maryland, there were more pedestrian fatalities in the first half of 2024 than the year before,” Snider said. “Virginia was down slightly, but all of these across the country, it’s far worse than before the pandemic. So looking back more than five years, we’ve been heading in the wrong direction for a number of years. The past couple years, we have seen some signs of progress nationally, but in the DMV area, not the best picture.”
In Maryland, fatal crashes involving pedestrians were up about 4% in the first half of 2024 compared to 2023. D.C. was up 44%, though that’s a testament to a small overall number compared to most states — going from 9 to 13.
“There’s a number of contributing factors that have led to this,” Snider admitted. “A couple big things are we have a lot less traffic enforcement now than we used to. So, fewer police on the road addressing speeding, impaired driving. Those are really dangerous, unsafe behaviors that kill people walking every single day.”
Another big factor is the size of the vehicles we drive.
“Just take a look out of the roads and see how many SUVs and pickups you see in the area and across the country,” Snider said. “It’s a whole lot more than you did 10 years ago. And those are far more dangerous for people walking.”
That makes it even more important to slow down, drive sober and not get distracted while behind the wheel.
“We need more enforcement, we need more vehicle technology,” Snider said. “We need more infrastructure, more community outreach and programs. We really need a ‘yes’ and, ‘all of the above’ approach.”
“Even one death is too many,” he added.
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