Reporting on pedestrian life in the D.C. area

DDOT on Navy Yard ped safety: "The trucks ... are just not stopping"

August 10, 2010 - 10:58 AM
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As mentioned here earlier, transportation secretary Ray LaHood met with D.C. officials last week to discuss pedestrian safety near the Navy Yard metro stop. Two of LaHood's employees have been hit by autos near the department's headquarters this year, one of them fatally.

According to DDOT spokesman John Lisle, D.C. Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein has spent some time with his staff observing traffic on M Street SE. They noticed that "trucks coming north on First Street are just not stopping" when they make the right onto M Street, Lisle says. "They maybe take a quick glance, and they're really just making that right turn without a full stop." That's the intersection (shown above) where a pedestrian was hit by a dump truck last week. Lisle says they now plan on making right-on-red illegal at that corner from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

"That area is still pretty industrialized, even though a lot of people live there and work there," Lisle says, adding that a couple of asphalt companies are based in the neighborhood. "There are still a lot of trucks circulating right through."

Lisle says the city will probably deploy some mobile speed display signs along M Street as well.

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