D.C. cuts speed limit to 20 mph to curb pedestrian deaths: a step forward but not enough | New thoughts on a comprehensive Vision Zero agenda

Neighborhood Slow Zone street sign, 4th and C Streets SE, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. I haven't seen such a sign elsewhere in the city. I don't know if it was a pilot case.

Today, DC announced that starting next week, the prevailing speed limit -- unless posted otherwise -- will be 20mph ("D.C. cuts speed limit to 20 mph to curb pedestrian deaths," Washington Post. 

Currently, the prevailing speed is 25mph, and the posted speed is often 30 mph on major arterials, especially as you move outside of the core.

Interesting.

Years ago, when then Councilmember Bowser and Councilmember Wells suggested that the prevailing speed be 15mph, I said that was too slow, that 20mph would make sense, especially for residential streets.

-- "A more radical approach to Vision Zero," 2019
-- "A reminder about how the entitlement of automobility is embedded into law and democratizes death by accident," 2014
-- "A "Vision Zero" agenda for DC," 2014
-- "DC and Vision Zero Revisited," 2015
-- "Updating Vision Zero approaches," 2016
-- First global benchmark for road safety in cities published by International Transport Forum," 2018
-- "Pedestrian fatalities and street design," 2019

In "Updating Vision Zero approaches" I reorganized the recommendations into categories modeled after the "6 E's" of bike and pedestrian planning, but with some modifications:

-- Planning/Placemaking
-- Engineering and Maintenance
-- Education
-- Encouragement
-- Enforcement/Traffic Engineering
-- Equity

(The Sustainable Mobility Platform concept I've been developing includes pedestrian elements.  It needs an update too.)

Now they're doing it.  Except according to the article Mayor Bowser hasn't given up on 15mph:

Bowser also announced a “slow streets” initiative through which some neighborhood roads will be restricted to local traffic only and have a posted 15 mph speed limit. The District Department of Transportation is identifying locations, Bowser said.

I have some concerns about this, especially in the core of the city, because the strength of the mobility network is the grid of blocks and streets, and if the grid gets more disconnected, this can have other negative elements.

Similarly, I've suggested that signage about the city's prevailing speed limit, which is lower than the surrounding suburbs, should be posted at entry points to the city, especially main arterials like Wisconsin, Connecticut, Georgia, and Rhode Island Avenues, 16th Street, East Capitol and South Capitol Streets, etc.

Given the new directive, it's worth listing the recommendations from the "Enforcement/Traffic Engineering" element:

Enforcement/Traffic Engineering
In this section I've added traffic engineering as an element slightly different from the kinds of infrastructure facilities typically covered under the "Engineering" E.

NYC Vision Zero ad. Suburban residents often don't realize that it is inappropriate to drive fast in urban environments.

26.  Put signage up at the major entry points into the city, stating that the prevailing speed limit is 25 mph, unless posted otherwise.

27,  Make residential street speed limits 20 mph.

28,  Change the speed limit around transit stations to 25 mph (or 20 mph).

29,  Post notification signs at locations of traffic deaths.

Image from Streetsblog.

30. Change the legal framework with regard to motor vehicle operation to require that automobiles--as the heaviest and most powerful mobility device--should be accorded the greatest amount of legal responsibility with regard to traffic accidents.

31. Up the penalties for vehicle accidents that injure, maim, or kill, regardless of intent.

32.. Retrain police officers with regard to bike and pedestrian accident analysis so that their default position is not "the pedestrian/the bicyclist is automatically at fault."

33. Legalize the Idaho Stop for bicycling.

34. Consider the development of a bicycle operators endorsement for drivers licenses.

35. Bring back the traffic enforcement division of the police department as a special unit. (Note that the Motor Carrier Safety Unit still exists, although it's probably a federal requirement.)

36. Give parking enforcement officers the training and legal authority to ticket driving infractions.

37.  Advocate to the Consumer Product Safety Commission for the inclusion as original equipment front and back lighting, and left and right turn signals on bicycles intended for urban transportation use

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I guess with this change by the city, I should go back and do a re-read of the Vision Zero agenda and update it.  Certainly if the city can change the speed limit, it can legalize the Idaho Stop.

Here are two items on my mind.

Big data and targeted traffic safety initiatives.  In comments on one of the entries, charlie made that point that the big issue is really addressing in a systematic way the people who are likely to be the worst/most dangerous drivers.

While I have been derisive of "big data" approaches at times, figuring that the "gee whiz" element of big data is used when regular but systematic techniques are capable of similar "revelations," it's just that no one is focused on transformational practice, focused efforts on dangerous drivers is a big opportunity for big data ("Real-Time Data Analytics Aims to Reduce Traffic Fatalities," Government Technology).

Treating sections of streets as networks, and addressing intersections as nodes within the pedestrian network.  I have been meaning to write a piece about intersections as networks.

I have written about it here and there ("Barnes Dance Intersections as possible "solutions" to Wisconsin & M, 14th and U intersections," 2016) but now I am thinking about it more comprehensively, including the addition of mid-block crosswalks where needed (L'Enfant's plan for the city's streets made some blocks double and triple the size of a normal block).

I made the point in my writings on Silver Spring, Maryland, as point #4 in this entry, "PL #5: Creating a Silver Spring "Sustainable Mobility District" | Part 2: Program items 1 - 9."

Create a network of pedestrian scramble intersections, where one designated signal phase is exclusively for pedestrians: on Colesville Road at East-West Highway, Second Street, Georgia Avenue, and Fenton Street; on Fenton Street at Ellsworth, Wayne Avenue, and Bonifant Street; and at the intersection of Wayne and Georgia Avenues.  And a more defined crosswalk treatment should be provided at the mid-block crossing at Ellsworth and Georgia Avenues, crossing east-west.

Pedestrian scramble, Jackson Boulevard and State Street, Chicago. Photo: John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune.

While the road network prioritizes motor vehicle throughput, some places have far more pedestrian traffic than motor vehicle traffic.  One way to better balance movement for pedestrians is to provide a "pedestrian scramble" or "Barnes Dance" intersection treatment where one phase, including diagonal crossing, is exclusively for pedestrians.

Back when Downtown DC was the region's primary shopping and office district, DC had multiple such intersections.  More recently, one was created at 7th and H Streets NW and one is being installed at 14th and Irving Streets NW.  I have argued that DC needs multiple such intersections as a traffic safety and mobility rebalancing intervention ("Barnes Dance intersections as possible solutions").

There is also a mid-block pedestrian crossing on Georgia Avenue at Ellsworth (which doesn't continue west across Georgia Avenue) which needs a more defined crossing treatment comparable to markings for the street crossings on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

The ICT is marked by high quality markings at street crossings, making very clear the prioritization of non-motorized mobility.

This should be added to the Vision Zero comprehensive agenda as an additional element within the section on Engineering.

For example, all of the crosswalks from:

• the 200 block to the 1500 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE
• on H Street NE from the 300 block to the Maryland Avenue intersection, and continuing from that point on Benning Road NE to Oklahoma Avenue NE
• on 14th Street NW from Thomas Circle to Spring Street at the edge of Columbia Heights
• and so forth -- e.g., Connecticut Avenue, M Street, Wisconsin Avenue, Georgia Avenue, etc.

should be treated as single networks, have special design treatments, etc.

The failure to think this way is a major omission in city transportation planning in DC and elsewhere.

Another place I've suggested this is in Takoma DC on Cedar Street from where it terminates at Piney Branch Road at the Takoma Elementary School to Old Town Takoma Park.

But there are dozens of places across the city with similar conditions and opportunities.

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Also see:

-- "Activists block off DC streets to create socially distant outdoor space," WTOP radio
-- "Boston 'Healthy Streets' program to include bike lanes, bus stop expansion, outdoor dining," WCVB-TV
-- Boston Healthy Streets program