Mayor Bowser announces $10 million in traffic safety improvements D.C. Auto Accident Lawyer
In recent weeks, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced that the District will spend $10 million on traffic safety in response to “the significant increase in the number of fatalities that we have experienced on our roadways in 2021.”
Mayor Bowser took office in 2015. Her goal at the time was to eliminate traffic fatalities and injuries by 2024. She is hoping this plan will help the District achieve that goal. The plan includes funding for curb extensions and medians, and reflective paint to protect pedestrians and bikers.
The money will also go to road safety improvements like speed and red light cameras, as well as traffic enforcement.
But, do speed cameras work? According to one CDC report, speed cameras are highly effective – studies showed that near camera sites, there were reductions in average speed between 1 and 15 percent, and reduced total crashes by 8 percent, and fatal and serious-injury crashes by 11 percent near camera sites.
Mayor Bowser, speaking to a crowd, added:
No one likes to get a speeding ticket, but as you’ve always heard me say, you don’t have to get it. What’s worse than getting a speeding ticket is getting hit by a speeding car. We’ve already seen a child killed this year, a cyclist killed and pedestrians killed…I’m sure that the drivers in those instances never thought that they would be behind a wheel when a person was killed.
For two years in a row, traffic deaths in the District have increased. In 2019, there were 27. In 2020, there were 37 fatalities. So far this year, there have been 16 fatalities – six more than last year at this time – eight in the month of April alone, including a 4-year old.
The United States as a whole has seen a similar trend. From 2016 to 2019, there was an annual decrease in motor vehicle deaths. In 2016, 37,806 people died; in 2019, 36,096 people died. However, in 2020, as estimated 42,000 people died. Experts attribute the increase in deaths to fewer cars on the road; careless drivers took advantage of this, choosing to drive faster and more recklessly.
If you’ve been injured in an accident, or due to negligence or wrongful conduct, it may be in your best interest to hire an attorney. The experienced attorneys at Cohen & Cohen have settled more than 10,000 cases since 1993. Contact us today at (202) 955-4529 for a free case evaluation. We can help get you the compensation you deserve.
