Thread: Nine Deadly Months for Pedestrians

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00798.html

Nine Deadly Months for Pedestrians
11 of 12 People Killed Were Trying to Cross Roads Improperly

By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006; VA01


Fairfax County's roads remain hostile territory for pedestrians.

With more than three months left in 2006, the county has surpassed last year's total of 10 people killed by automobiles, with 12 deaths. Fairfax's minority population continues to be disproportionately affected.

The most recent fatality came early Aug. 19, when Fidel Angel Hernandez, 25, was struck as he tried to cross the 8100 block of Richmond Highway in the Hybla Valley area. The driver of a 2005 Honda van, headed north, was not charged. Hernandez died at the scene. Two days earlier, Tirzo Carreto-Santos, 21, died while crossing Little River Turnpike in the Lincolnia area. He also was struck by a van.

About 2,700 people are injured by automobiles in the Washington area each year, and an average of 80 die, according to a report sponsored by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). In Fairfax County alone, 62 pedestrians have been killed since 2002. Nearly 20 percent of those injured required hospital stays of more than 24 hours, costing $17,000 to $30,000 per patient, according to COG.

The 12 deaths in Fairfax are fairly representative of the larger problem, police said. In 11 of the 12 cases, the pedestrian was crossing against the light or outside the crosswalk. In three instances, including that of Hernandez, the pedestrians were under the influence of alcohol, police said.

Immigrants and the elderly are also disproportionately represented. The victims include women ages 66, 76 and 85, in addition to a 66-year-old man.

Richmond Highway and Little River Turnpike are like other primary roads in Fairfax County, designed to move large amounts of traffic with little attention to the needs of pedestrians. They have long expanses between traffic signals, tempting pedestrians to cross at the most convenient spot.

"People are going to take the shortest route and cross where they can cross," said Lt. Dan Townsend of the Fairfax police traffic division.

Those roads also serve neighborhoods with heavy concentrations of low-income and immigrant residents. That means language can be a barrier to making safe crossing decisions, as can culture. Some newcomers are not prepared for the speed of traffic in the Washington suburbs, where limits of 45 mph are common, authorities say.

A report earlier this year by the county's Pedestrian Task Force said $60 million would be needed over 10 years for improved bus stop access and new trails and sidewalks. So far, the county has set aside $11 million for pedestrian safety in its four-year transportation plan.

as can culture

It could be just my experience and this has to do with driving more so than pedestrian crossings. I have seen some pretty brazen driving. Moves I wouldn't even think of doing and surely wasn't covered in any defensive driving course I took. Now there's stupid moves done all the time......these are block the traffic, dare you to hit me, I'm comming through moves. Because of tinted windows and such I'm just responding to the vehicle and have no idea who's driving. But everytime it's a hispanic. They don't seem to understand merging or moving over lanes. They can be in the far right lane and then realize they want to turn left at the next corner and they just point blank turn left right there and this is in a 2 or 3 lane road not counting the actual turn lane. I had a lady run her light and cross 2 lanes to get in front of me in my turn lane. I mean she tapped my front bumper to let me know she was going through when the traffic started moving. In the mean time she has traffic backed up because they can't go forward since she's perfectly horizontal in the lanes. Yesterday my husband and I witnessed it behind us when there were 2 hispanic guys driving a tank fertilizer truck that crossed 3 lanes to get to the turn lane. I know they were because we were stopped along side of them a few moments earlier and they were eating and had the radio on a hispanic music station. Not even a quick merge from lane to lane. I mean block lanes moves. As if their vehicle is a tank or something. Add that with the typical speeders weaving in and out while talking on the cell and it's a regular demolitian derby out there. I wouldn't even think of trying to cross streets here, on foot, even in the right zones, because pedestrians are simply ignored. As a society we have apparently gotten ruder and more risky and it doesn't help when their are new immigrants (legal and illegal)that aren't famaliar with the rules of the road and road designers that have these insane layouts that don't work in multiple lane traffic.

I would like to know more about these pedestrians getting hit as often they are the ones that cause the accident. I constantly see people crossing a few yards away from a traffic light, people running at cross the street in front of my car at night wearing dark clothing, and crossing in traffic when the traffic light show the driver has the right of way. Then there are the drivers who are either old and should not be driving or immigrants who don't know what they are doing as many of them never drove on roads with high volume of traffic before.
What I hate the most is when these Hispanics get into accidents and it doesn't matter if they are legal or not but man do they know how to lie about whose fault it is. I have seen these on numerous occasions. One involved a Russian guy who spoke little English. The Hispanic caused an accident and the witness was also Hispanic. They both came up with a story to make it the Russian's fault. They convinved the officer with their story and the illegal who caused it got off unitl the Russian hired a lawyer who was able to prove what really happened. Another incident involved an 82 year old man. A Hispanic woman was driving and ran a red light causing the elderly man to hit her. She had no driver's license and had the old man convinced that he was at fault. Thank goodness that a police officer was behind him and witnessed it. She got two citations and 2 months later she was pulled over for a routine traffic stop in my area. At that point I told the officer who pulled her over, of her prior offense and had them notify ICE.
I had one case where a Hispanic male was lying and made it look like the accident was the woman's fault as there were no witnesses. The officer who was writing the report was convinced until I asked the man to repeat his account of what happened. I was looking at the intersection and trying to visualize it. He seen me doing so and must have realized that his story was not very good and ended up telling the truth.