M and Wisconsin is Still Too Dangerous

In what is sadly becoming an annual occurrence, DDOT has included the intersection of M and Wisconsin in its list of most dangerous intersections for pedestrians. And it’s no surprise given the current conditions. But doesn’t make it acceptable.

Many factors contribute to the intersection being so bad. It handles an enormous volume of both pedestrian and automobile traffic (in fact, on the weekends, the pedestrian traffic far exceeds the auto traffic). The attitudes of the drivers using the roads is mostly that of entitled suburbanites who think nothing of slamming on the gas to “beat” a red, even when they still remain stuck behind a long line of cars. What that often results in is them not actually beating the red, i.e. running the red, or simply slamming on the brakes and blocking the intersection. Neither of which is safe for pedestrians at the mercy of the driver’s urgent conviction that They Need To Be Somewhere.

Recent policy changes designed to assuage this entitlement has only made the situation worse for pedestrians. Several years ago, the city began to allow left turns at Wisconsin for eastbound M St. traffic. While this might be a good idea in theory (it takes cars off 33rd and 31st) the way it was implemented is obviously dangerous to anyone who stands at that intersection at rush hour. The turning cars are given a leading green arrow. During this phase the pedestrians are not to cross Wisconsin. Fine so far.

But once that green arrow ends, the turning cars still have a green light. And inevitably one, two or even three cars blitz through the intersection in order to beat the westbound M St. traffic. These speeding cars are turning directly into the path of pedestrians who by now have the right-of-way.

Does every instance of a driver hitting a pedestrian involve these circumstances? Probably not. But it’s indicative of the problem: drivers in a rush operating deadly machines with little regard to the safety of those not encased in 2 tons of glass and steel.

Zero tolerance for dangerous driving would be a good idea. But even with Mayor Bowser promising to implement Vision Zero, GM doubts there’s a political will to treat all reckless driving like the deadly crime it is.

Barring some miraculous appearance of a political will along these lines, GM thinks the nearer term solution is the installation of a permanent traffic control officer at the intersection. The BID has proposed this as part of Georgetown 2028, but the city has not fully implemented the idea yet. But if one arm of the city is saying this intersection is among the most deadly, it stands to reason that another arm of the government ought to step up and try to remedy the problem.