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Let me note again that I'm that old geezer that you hate to be behind, because I simply won't go as fast as the tailgaters behind me want me to go. So if anybody should be in favor of lower speed limits and tougher enforcement, it ought to be me. But I have a lot of trouble with this notion that "speed kills", period, as if that's the totality of it.

Here's a fact. Pedestrian fatalities are down by 60% since 1975, and down by 10% in the last decade. Why? Is it because drivers are going slower? I don't think so. Is it because cars are safer? They're surely safer for the passengers, but not for pedestrians, the high profile of SUVs making them exceptionally pedestrian-lethal.

So it's got to be other factors, and focusing on speed, as if reducing vehicle speed is the answer to the problem, is a mistake.

Re Porter Street, that's a place where I have to dive to the right just as soon as the second lane opens up, to get out of the way of the demons behind me who are in a big hurry to get to that left turn to Beach Drive. Pedestrians? Occasional, but nothing like the numbers found at the 16th Street and 14th Street intersections. And that's where the pedestrian collisions, and pedestrian fatalities, occur.

Clearly road design, and lighting, are crucial. The one fatality here in recent years was due to a left-turning bus, the driver simply failing to see the pedestrian, the pedestrian somehow failing to see the bus. Speed, not a factor. We've taken measures to reduce that left-turn hazard.

A pedestrian near-fatality here is indicative of another problem: distracted walking. How many times have you seen pedestrians strolling across a street with their eyes, and minds, focused on a cellphone, talking or texting? The very unfortunate incident here involved a person simply walking into the side of a turning truck, and falling under the rear wheels. Speed, not a factor.

Don't underestimate the role of pedestrians in road fatalities. Half of all adult pedestrians killed after dark were legally too drunk to drive, a factor possibly contributing to the incident.

Sure, slowing traffic is nice, but numerous other factors are involved in pedestrian safety. Annoyed as I am by those drivers pushing me to "go faster", I don't think speed is the principal factor, or even a major factor, in DC pedestrian fatalities. The great decline in pedestrian fatalities in past decades, in the absence of any (to my knowledge) decline in traffic speed, says that other factors are predominant here.

by Jack on Mar 29, 2012 6:02 pm • link • report