Testimony to DC Council on Vision Zero, 2021 edition

After threatening to for over three years, I finally managed to sign up in time to testify in person (….virtually.…). But, even if you didn’t, you can submit testimony in writing (or by voicemail!) within two weeks of the meeting: see the end of the meeting notice and send in your comments by May 27, 2021.

Testimony to the Council of DC, Committee on Transportation & the Environment

Public Roundtable on The Surge in Traffic Crashes, Fatalities, and Injuries in the District and the Urgent Need to Fully Fund the Vision Zero Enhancement Omnibus Amendment Act

May 13, 2021

As my friend Rachel Maisler told this committee in February, if we want those who discovered bikes during the last year to keep riding, the answer is simple: “more safe places to ride…whatever it takes.” DC’s 2015 commitment—Mayor Bowser’s commitment—to Vision Zero calls for lower speeds and safer places to ride, and DC’s repeatedly-stated intent to lower traffic, pollution, and drive-alone modeshare all require taking space from cars and dedicating it to making it safer and more comfortable to use non-automotive modes.

We need more, wider, and more connected sidewalks and bike lanes, all across the District, and we need DDOT to be less timid about proposing and pushing for them. A good rule is “1 of each before 2 of any”—that is, before any road gets a second lane, it should have a bus lane or bike lanes. Conversely, we should be looking at any road that already has multiple lanes in each direction and make one into a bus lane or space for people walking and cycling.

And yet, examples across the city show how DDOT still plans first and primarily for automotive traffic, while bikes and pedestrians are an afterthought. In some cases, bikes and pedestrians are forced to fight for scraps at the edge of massive suburban-style highways, even in the heart of our city, as at Dave Thomas Circle or on 11th Street Southeast at the edge of the Navy Yard, where a seven-lane road will get a protected bike lane by shaving off part of the sidewalk.  We also still see projects like the rehab of Massachusetts Avenue west of Dupont go forward without any rethinking of the space.  As DDOT’s engineer said during the project meeting in February after several questions about the lack of bike lanes, “We’re reconstructing the existing roadway, not planning for the future.”  Indeed.

This goes beyond funding—as the Vision Zero Network says, “Vision Zero is not a slogan, nor a tagline, not even just a program…Vision Zero is a fundamental shift in approach [to] safe mobility.” Vision Zero isn’t some add-on that the Mayor can just throw a couple million dollars at, it must be built into everything the Department does from the beginning.  DDOT needs to get serious about Vision Zero, about Safe Accommodations, and about its own long term plans and to train its staff, starting, apparently, at the top, on what they mean broadly and for the specific projects they are working on. 

In 2016, Linda Bailey, then the Executive Director of NACTO, wrote that “Elected officials should be champions for safe street designs.”  The record and rising number of “lives lost is a wake-up call, yet we know how to stem this epidemic. Better design will save lives and make our streets safer.” Mayor Bowser hired her to be DDOT’s Vision Zero Director, but as the Department’s continuing record shows—on Safe Accommodations, on the Eastern Downtown Protected Lanes, and so many more projects and regulations collecting dust on shelves—the rest of us still need you on this Council to be our champions. We need you to demand more of this Administration.