Comments on: Reducing Residential Speed Limits to 15MPH?

By: IMGoph

IMGoph — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:44:56 +0000

We still tweet about this at Struck in DC.

By: JL

JL — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:41:31 +0000

I suspect it is rare for a pedestrian to be hit by a car actually moving at the rate of 30 mph on a road where the average car is going 30 mph.

I’d guess that most of the time when a car hits a ped, the driver sees the pedestrian too late but does manage to hit the brakes before the collision.

By: RR

RR — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:42:00 +0000

+100000 … I’ve come close to being hit while other cars have stopped and people ignore the sign. Car didnt even slam on the breaks- I hit her hood and yelled at her, but she screamed at me for being in the wrong. I walk and drive and live by 2nd and florida everyday, and I can’t count the times I see violations in one day…people even hitting the signs with their cars. The sign at 3rd and Florida has had to be replaced 4 times, and it had to be moved back several feet to prevent careless drivers from hitting it.

Speed is not the main issue here.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:39:29 +0000

and yet almost none of those “quite a few each week” were fatal accidents, so we must be going slow enough already.

This ridiculous “the slower people drive, the less likely a pedestrian struck by a car will die” argument is nonsense. Those Andrew Sullivan stats are not about faster cars leading to more pedestrians being struck by cars; it’s about what happens when a pedestrian is hit. Or why the pedestrian is hit. What percentage of times is the pedestrian at fault, and not the driver of the car? Such as the 42% of pedestrians fatalities being drunk when the accident occurred (in the ten years between 2000-2010)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/20/AR2011012000007.html

So the drivers of cars are penalized because pedestrians are too stupid, or too drunk, not to throw themselves into the path of traffic?

Another culprit seems to be Ipods. http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/2011/01/exercise-ipods-could-be-causing-pedestrian-deaths

Tell ya what; make Ipods and walking after drinking illegal, and I’ll drive 15 mph.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:22:08 +0000

+ 10 billion

By: Tres

Tres — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:24:03 +0000

Exactly. If you make it 15, the vast majority of drivers are going to surpass the limit — including non-dangerous drivers (those who went the speed limit when it was higher). IOW, the worst, most dangerous speeders are *less* likely to be pulled over or fined, because officers are spending their time pulling over people doing 25, who aren’t a big threat to *law abiding* pedestrian today to begin with.

By: Anon2

Anon2 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:52:02 +0000

I know a way to guarantee an end to pedestrian deaths in DC – let’s lower the speed limit to 0 MPH!!!!

Problem solved !!!!!!

By: jcm

jcm — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:00:18 +0000

Slim, I got the numbers from this Washington Post article and chart. Not much else there, I'm afraid.

By: maria

maria — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:45:29 +0000

I think the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard is making pedestrians cross the street at crosswalks in residential neighborhoods, since this is what we are talking about. You should try walking and see for yourself if you are going to give “respect” to people driving through the street you live on.

By: Anon2

Anon2 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:17:55 +0000

Yep. Leave it to the good ole DC City Council to propose laws that have absolutely no chance of being enforced. Our cops are so “busy” that they can’t even address the blatant moving violations (speeding, illegal turns, failure to stop, reckless driving) that happen 1,000′s of times daily. Who’s to imagine that lowering the speed limit city-wide will do anything but make life that much more annoying in DC.

If there’s a problem with speeding and/or accidents in a particular area then the Council should press MPD to do more enforcement there.