Dear PoP – aggression towards pedestrians in Dupont/Logan Circles

Photo by PoPville flickr user Bogotron

“Dear PoP,

I am writing to ask for your help in raising awareness about driver aggression towards pedestrians in the Dupont/Logan area.

In the last six months or so, I have noticed a disturbing trend in our neighborhood. Rather than yielding to pedestrians — as the law requires — drivers sometimes actually speed up when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk. This has happened to both my husband and me on separate occasions, to the point that we had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by a car accelerating towards us. I saw it again yesterday, only this time it was a taxicab that floored it towards a pedestrian who was crossing at R and Connecticut — and the pedestrian had both the light and the right of way!

It’s terrifying to see a car accelerating towards you. But once I got over the fright, I became very angry, especially because I feel helpless to fight back in any way. It is also happening to bikers who are obeying traffic rules; I have three different friends who have told me about cars/trucks speeding up towards them and/or running them off the road.

I don’t know what can be done to stop this disturbing trend, but I know I need to raise awareness before another person gets killed.”

We had a very lively Dear PoP, People leisurely walking into speeding traffic, last week from a driver’s perspective. It is interesting to see a pedestrian’s perspective. Is this problem particularly bad in Dupont/Logan Circles or is it a problem all over the city?