For Release: Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021
Contact: Nick DelleDonne,
703 929 6656
Speedup of Road Safety Programs Sacrifices Community Input
Mayor Shows Support for Interim DDOT Director
Apparently reacting to a series of traffic accidents and mounting criticism of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT)’s safety programs, Mayor Bowser announced Tuesday, Oct. 12, DDOT’s “acceleration of roadway safety improvement projects,” even at the expense of community engagement, which she said is “time consuming.” The accelerated projects include speed humps, stop signs and right turn hardening measures and improving “high-crash, high-injury corridors.”
The announcement came at a press conference in Deanwood where she appeared with Everett Lott, her pick to head the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), which is faces criticism regarding Vision Zero, Bike Plans, an expressed policy not to undertake studies to support its installations, intransigence and a bold plan to abandon community engagement. The Mayor appears to be giving full support to Lott in advance of his confirmation hearing coming up on Tuesday, October 26, before CM Mary Cheh's Committee on Transportation and the Environment. Anyone wishing to testify at the confirmation hearing should contact A. Benjamin at abenjamin@dccouncil.us.
Traffic safety accidents were reported in the Washington Post: “A child on a bike was struck in a D.C. crosswalk — again,” ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/child-bike-hit-crosswalk-dc/2021/09/29/b5128b14-2152-11ec-9309-b743b79abc59_story.htmland) and “It’s time to get serious about reducing traffic deaths ,” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/07/vision-zero-traffic-deaths-washington-dc-get-serious/
The DC Auditor has begun an 8-month probe into Vision Zero which a goal of reducing traffic fatalities which DDOT administers, and which form the basis of many of its safety programs, like Protected Bike Lanes. The Auditor reports that traffic fatalities have gone up in each of the last six years, but one.
In addition, ANC 3E unanimously passed a resolution critical of DDOT’s stonewall-the-public approach. Here is the link https://bit.ly/3kTsz31
Lott will appear at the ANC6A meeting tonight, Oct. 14, by Zoom at 7 pm. Capitol Hill East is a partner in city-wide Coalition on DDOT Bike Plans. Here is the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89689673808