Sign in Queens, NYC. Photo by mlcastle on Flickr.

ANC Commissioner Mital Gandhi represents the area where Charles Schwartz was killed by an automobile on Wednesday. Gandhi just sent this to a variety of area neighborhood email lists:

Yesterday afternoon, Councilmember Cheh held an extremely productive meeting on pedestrian safety after yet another fatality near Nebraska and Connecticut Avenues. This brings to three pedestrian crossing fatalities within a 5 block area on Connecticut Avenue as well as other non-fatal accidents. I am happy to report that decision-making employees of DDOT, 2D Commander Carter and Assistant Chief Burke from MPD along with concerned ANC Commissioners and the Councilmember leading the discussion have come up with a two pronged strategy.

One is short term; the other long term.

Short term, you will see Connecticut Avenue between Chesapeake Streets up to one block north of Nebraska become a targeted enforcement zone with MPD committing officers and a strategy as well as DDOT implementing an immediate marketing strategy to convey this zone to motorists and pedestrians. You will see many of these activities taking place starting Monday, October 6, 2008.

Long term, we are still talking on viable solutions and are open to suggestions and comments. Many of the comments suggested that this portion of Connecticut Ave. “opens up” and may invite drivers to possibly speed up between Van Ness and north of Nebraska. There was good discussion and we look forward to talking to all interested parties.

I’m interested to see what this “targeted enforcement zone” will be. Will MPD just start going after “jaywalkers”? Or will they also be targeting unsafe drivers?

Some signs like the one above wouldn’t be a bad idea either, though as the linked Flickr page points out, it puts all the responsibility on the pedestrian when both driver and pedestrian must do their parts for safety.

How do you think we can change this stretch of Connecticut to be safer?

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.