East D.C. Pedestrian Deaths Alarm Authorities

5 People Killed in 8 Days Despite Safety Efforts

Five pedestrians have been killed in eight days in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, causing consternation among residents and District safety officials.

The spike in fatal accidents between Jan. 28 and Feb. 5 is putting the city on a record pace for pedestrian deaths, despite recent traffic education and enforcement efforts by the administration of Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D).

The victims were a 7-year-old boy and his mother who were crossing Southern Avenue, a 2-year-old girl who was being carried across busy South Capitol Street and two stepbrothers who were killed by a hit-and-run driver at 4 a.m.

Overall, there have been six deaths in as many weeks this year. In all of 2005, there were 16 pedestrian deaths, an increase from 10 the year before. City officials are trying to determine whether the sudden increase this year is a statistical anomaly or a mix of poor judgment on the part of drivers and pedestrians, bad road design and a lack of traffic enforcement.

"We've had a bad start," said George Branyan, pedestrian coordinator of the District's Transportation Department. He is studying the circumstances of each fatality this year for ways to better protect walkers. But he has not found any obvious links in the cases. "They're mixed and jumbled and all over the map."

About 3,000 pedestrians a year are hit by cars in the Washington region, and pedestrian fatalities account for 22 percent of total traffic deaths in the District, Virginia and Maryland, according to the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board.

Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, said he wrote to D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey and city transportation officials this month, asking them to take quick action on the recent accidents. A meeting yesterday at the Reeves Municipal Center in Northwest Washington brought together police, traffic planners and community activists to try to determine what more can be done.

"It's very alarming," Lynch said. "But these are well-known dangerous streets. The city should be doing a lot more than it is."

Lynch called on officials to step up enforcement and undertake an aggressive education effort targeted at schoolchildren and the public.

He said that the recent pedestrian deaths have not received adequate public attention because they did not occur in Northwest Washington. "If there were six deaths west of [Rock Creek Park], the city would be in an uproar,'' Lynch said.

"They could enforce the [traffic] laws that are already on the books,'' said Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Anthony Muhammad.

Seven-year-old Jay Johnson and Shanika Howard, 25, were killed the night of Jan. 28 when trying to cross Southern Avenue near Chesapeake Street SE. They had just gotten off a bus and were hit by a vehicle. The driver in the incident was not charged.