Supporting So Md Active Means Supporting Your Community

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2. E-bike use on shared use trails: For the safety of other trail users, e-bikes that do not require pedaling should not be permitted on any dedicated bicycle/pedestrian facility such as a protected bike lane, side trail or other multi-use trail. 

3. Demonstration/rapid prototype projects: Establishing dedicated facilities for walking and bicycling is a lengthy and costly process. We recommend that Maryland encourage rapid prototyping of bicycle and walking facilities such as protected bike lanes and trails. These can be developed rapidly and at low cost, yet can readily be removed if they prove to not perform as intended. If they do work, the labor and expense of making the changes permanent can come later. 

4. Share the road: Any road segment requiring a "share the road" sign is unsafe for bicycling (and likely getting little bicyclist use), and should be a priority for upgrade. 

5. Sacrifice of shoulder for passing and turn lanes: To improve vehicular traffic flow at new private developments or at intersections, SHA routinely re-marks highway pavement to create turn lanes while eliminating road shoulders. As a result, bicyclists and people on foot must then “share the road” or try to transit the road segment outside the highway corridor. This policy has made it so that highways that were formerly suitable for bicycle use are now totally unusable. This approach needs to stop and such intersections should be priority projects for bicycle accessibility restoration. 

6. Right on red: Pedestrian crossing lights are useless when drivers sail through an intersection to take a right turn against a red light. In addition, on some state highway intersections there are turn lanes with yield signs where they join the crossing road, making it difficult and dangerous for a pedestrian to reach the island where a cross light applies. The turn lanes need lights to stop traffic for people on foot and the right on red should either be delayed by a traffic signal so people can actually cross there with some level of safety– or right on red should be banned. 

7. Project planning to consider connectivity: Too often, infrastructure projects are developed without considering the needs of bikers and pedestrians. Such a failure is evident on the Route 5 project north of Leonardtown in St. Mary’s County. The highway is being upgraded with turn lanes, shoulders, and sidewalks, but the shoulders and sidewalks stop several hundred yards short of an intersection. While there is a bridge to cross at MacIntosh Run, the narrow walkable raised platform that is non-optimal. Creating connections between road segments that are currently bikeable and walkable will greatly expand active transportation opportunities and should be a priority.

8. Add side paths and multi-use trails: On a rural stretch of two-lane highway, wide shoulders afford a fairly reasonable level of safety for bicycle riders – as long as the shoulders remain after highway upgrades are made. Along multi-lane highways or in congested areas shoulder use is in competition with motor vehicles and is very unsafe – if you bike along these areas your risk of being hit is high. Protected side paths or multi-use trails should be a high priority in these areas. 

9. Bike lanes: Unprotected bike lanes beside high-speed, multi-lane highways are a waste of taxpayer money – no one with a wish to live will use them (and that is why very few people do). Instead of installing narrow sidewalks and/or narrow bike lanes on such highways, make the sidewalk wider to allow mixed pedestrian/bicycle use or protect the bike lane with prefabricated curb stops and flexposts. 

5. Sacrifice of shoulder for passing and turn lanes: To improve vehicular traffic flow at new private developments or at intersections, SHA routinely re-marks highway pavement to create turn lanes while eliminating road shoulders. As a result, bicyclists and people on foot must then “share the road” or try to transit the road segment outside the highway corridor. This policy has made it so that highways that were formerly suitable for bicycle use are now totally unusable. This approach needs to stop and such intersections should be priority projects for bicycle accessibility restoration. 

6. Right on red: Pedestrian crossing lights are useless when drivers sail through an intersection to take a right turn against a red light. In addition, on some state highway intersections there are turn lanes with yield signs where they join the crossing road, making it difficult and dangerous for a pedestrian to reach the island where a cross light applies. The turn lanes need lights to stop traffic for people on foot and the right on red should either be delayed by a traffic signal so people can actually cross there with some level of safety– or right on red should be banned. 

7. Project planning to consider connectivity: Too often, infrastructure projects are developed without considering the needs of bikers and pedestrians. Such a failure is evident on the Route 5 project north of Leonardtown in St. Mary’s County. The highway is being upgraded with turn lanes, shoulders, and sidewalks, but the shoulders and sidewalks stop several hundred yards short of an intersection. While there is a bridge to cross at MacIntosh Run, the narrow walkable raised platform that is non-optimal. Creating connections between road segments that are currently bikeable and walkable will greatly expand active transportation opportunities and should be a priority.

8. Add side paths and multi-use trails: On a rural stretch of two-lane highway, wide shoulders afford a fairly reasonable level of safety for bicycle riders – as long as the shoulders remain after highway upgrades are made. Along multi-lane highways or in congested areas shoulder use is in competition with motor vehicles and is very unsafe – if you bike along these areas your risk of being hit is high. Protected side paths or multi-use trails should be a high priority in these areas. 

9. Bike lanes: Unprotected bike lanes beside high-speed, multi-lane highways are a waste of taxpayer money – no one with a wish to live will use them (and that is why very few people do). Instead of installing narrow sidewalks and/or narrow bike lanes on such highways, make the sidewalk wider to allow mixed pedestrian/bicycle use or protect the bike lane with prefabricated curb stops and flexposts. 

 a high-profile global day to remember the many millions who have been killed and seriously injured on the world’s roads and to acknowledge the suffering of all affected victims, families and communities.

WABA, local Families for Safe Streets chapters, and other grassroots groups are hosting World Day of Remembrance events and actions throughout the Washington, D.C. region. 

We encourage you to take an action or attend one of the following events to remember those we have lost due to traffic violence and to take action to work towards a world with no traffic violence and serious injuries.

Join us on Saturday (11/18) to visit the recently installed “Centuries” exhibit by artist Nekisha Durrett. Durrett’s exhibit focuses on celebrating Black women bicyclists, drawing from stories of five Black women, who gathered in 1928 to cycle for three days, from New York City to Washington, D.C.

2pm-5pm

Come join WABA and Ward 3 Bikes as we write postcards to DDOT and elected officials to ask them to prioritize safety for all road users this holiday season, and give residents the gift of a protected bike lane on Connecticut Avenue NW. 

We will also have “I Bike I Buy” cards to hand out to small businesses owners to show them you will be commuting to their businesses by bike this holiday season!

We will have a room at the Cleveland Park Library between 3pm and 5pm. Feel free to stop by anytime on November 19th!

D.C. Families for Safe Streets has installed over 40 signs to memorialize fatal crash sites from the past year across all eight Wards. There are multiple World Day of Remembrance events throughout the region. You can check out those events by visiting their webpage. We hope you can join them as they honor our families and friends on World Day of Remembrance.

Please join Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets on Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 1pm at Wakefield High School in Arlington, VA as they acknowledge and remember Northern Virginia’s victims of road traffic violence and advocate for prevent and eventually stop road traffic deaths and injuries. Attendance is open to the public.

Their program will include words from families of victims of road traffic violence, local elected leaders and officials, and a ceremony to remember the 17 pedestrians killed by people driving in Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax over the last year.

Local Families for Safe Streets Chapters and WABA will be hosting Ride for Your Life 2023 on Sunday, November 19th to commemorate World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. We are at capacity for riders, but we need ride marshals! If you are interested in being a ride marshal for this important event, please contact peter@waba.org. 

The event will take place on 11/19, 10am-1pm. 

I hope we'll see you at an event this weekend. 

In Solidarity,

Jeremiah Lowery
Advocacy Director

While the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic upended many aspects of daily life, including how people get around, one terrible, long-term trend was unchanged: the alarming increase in people being struck and killed while walking. 

The number of people struck and killed while walking reached yet another new high in 2020. More than 6,500 people were struck and killed while walking in 2020, an average of nearly 18 per day, and a 4.5 percent increase over 2019.

This epidemic continues growing worse because our nation’s streets are dangerous by design, designed primarily to move cars quickly at the expense of keeping everyone safe. The result in 2020 was a significant increase in all traffic fatalities, even with less driving overall due to the pandemic.

1. Sidewalks maintenance responsibility: Sidewalks alongside state highways in Southern MD are in poor repair. The State Highway Administration (SHA) requires sidewalk repairs to be the responsibility of the local jurisdiction or county. We understand that projects have been canceled because counties refuse to assume future cost liability of maintaining new sidewalks. This responsibility needs to shift to SHA since these sidewalks are all on State property. 

2. E-bike use on shared use trails: For the safety of other trail users, e-bikes that do not require pedaling should not be permitted on any dedicated bicycle/pedestrian facility such as a protected bike lane, side trail or other multi-use trail. 

3. Demonstration/rapid prototype projects: Establishing dedicated facilities for walking and bicycling is a lengthy and costly process. We recommend that Maryland encourage rapid prototyping of bicycle and walking facilities such as protected bike lanes and trails. These can be developed rapidly and at low cost, yet can readily be removed if they prove to not perform as intended. If they do work, the labor and expense of making the changes permanent can come later. 

4. Share the road: Any road segment requiring a "share the road" sign is unsafe for bicycling (and likely getting little bicyclist use), and should be a priority for upgrade. 

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