Police Using Technology and Tickets
by Annie Gowen and Leef Smith, Washington Post
Montgomery County police officer Norman Brissett, dressed in a bright orange T-shirt, stepped into the crosswalk on Twinbrook Parkway in Rockville yesterday and began striding purposefully across the road.
Whoooosh. A green sedan whirled past him as he approached the median.
Walkie-talkies crackled. Officers lying in wait up on Pier Drive waved the driver over and presented him with a traffic ticket for failing to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk, an infraction that requires a mandatory court appearance and is punishable by a fine up to $500 and up to 60 days in jail.
“The level of inattentiveness is amazing,” Sgt. Tom Harmon said. “You’d think they’d slow down. . . . They seem like they don’t care.”
County police issued 46 traffic citations yesterday during the crosswalk sting in Rockville, one of three sting operations they’ve done in the last three months.
The sting effort is part of a six-year, $120 million campaign to improve pedestrian safety in Montgomery County, one of several pedestrian safety initiatives -- both large and small -- underway in jurisdictions throughout the region.
The urgency of the problem was underscored Tuesday afternoon when two Alexandria teenagers were seriously injured after being struck by a car while trying to cross Little River Turnpike in a crosswalk.
Last month, District police ticketed 1,300 drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists during a week-long initiative aimed at the city’s most dangerous intersections for pedestrians.
In Virginia, Alexandria officials are experimenting with new pedestrian-friendly technologies, including median fences and traffic signals that count down how much time pedestrians have to cross, at 50 intersections. And in Southern Maryland, La Plata town officials have set out kiosks with portable orange flags that pedestrians crossing busy Route 6 can carry as they cross the street.
Although the number of pedestrian deaths decreased in Montgomery County and the District from 2000 to 2001 and stayed unchanged in Fairfax County, officials and transportation safety activists say pedestrian-safety efforts must continue as use of the region’s traffic-clogged roads continues to grow. More than 265 pedestrians were fatally struck in the region from 1997 to 2000, officials said.
“I don’t know if it’s safe to be a pedestrian anywhere in the United States,” said Jesse Bowman, commander of the Fairfax County Police Department traffic division. “America likes cars, and as a whole, we’re not that pedestrian friendly.”
Safe Crossings, a new advocacy group formed by David Lyons, a former paramedic with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, has been pressing Fairfax County and the state to improve pedestrian safety.
“We need to quit reacting to each hit,” Lyons said. “Let’s get out of this state of denial. We have a serious problem in our community and we need to address it. How many more fatalities is it going to take?”
Since January, 33 fatal accidents have occurred on Fairfax County roads. Eight of those fatalities involved pedestrians. All of last year, 19 pedestrians were killed.
Fairfax police are still investigating why the two Alexandria sisters were hit. Investigators said two cars yielded as Lean Abdulaziz, 18, and Rain Abdulaziz, 14, made their way across Little River Turnpike about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
But an elderly driver in a Cadillac went around the stopped cars and through the crosswalk, which was marked with a pedestrian crossing sign, police said. Both sisters were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital where Rain Abdulaziz was listed in critical condition yesterday.
Last month, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors launched a review of the county government’s efforts to protect pedestrians and reduce the fatality rate. Fairfax County police officials are also doing a historical analysis of auto crashes involving pedestrians.
Law enforcement officials around the region note that the driver and the pedestrian need to be responsible for safety.
“I really didn’t think I did anything wrong when the cop pulled me over,” said Bernard N. Rabin, 72, a limousine driver from Silver Spring who was ticketed as part of Montgomery County’s sting yesterday. “I thought people in the crosswalks would stop and wait [for cars to pass] to go.”
But law enforcement officials stress that accidents are often the fault of pedestrians who assume they have the right of way.
In the District, for example, three of the four pedestrian fatalities this year occurred because of pedestrian error, according to Lt. Patrick Burke, the traffic safety coordinator for District police.
“A lot of people cross the street mid-block,” ignoring crosswalks and intersection signals, Bowman said. “When we point out the danger of stepping off the curb and crossing six lanes of traffic, the majority response is, ‘It’s quicker. I’d rather take my chances.’ That’s difficult for us to combat.”