The College Park City Council and the University of Maryland community are demanding the state address traffic concerns more quickly regarding Route 1, after five pedestrians were struck along the busy roadway within the past 11 months.
Although the State Highway Administration is conducting a “pedestrian safety audit” of the major highway and will be implementing changes within 18-months of the audit, the College Park City Council, the University of Maryland Police Department and university are urging the SHA to implement changes before that deadline.
“It’s frustrating that the SHA doesn’t seem to see this as an urgent issue and are so slow to respond to what is clearly a crisis,” former University of Maryland Student Government Association Chief of Staff Maddi Higgins said.
As a way to begin dialogue, City Council sent a letter to the SHA on April 17, suggesting ways to improve pedestrian safety along Route 1 – which included actions such as lowering the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph and installing better lighting along the thoroughfare.
The SHA has responded to the City Council’s letter and said SHA members are taking a multi-dimensional approach to this serious issue “that includes engineering, education and enforcement,” Lora Rakowski, a SHA spokeswoman, said.
The university has also taken immediate action on Route 1 and also reached out to the SHA. On April 23, University President Wallace Loh sent an email to the university community, informing students that the university has joined forces with the city and Prince George’s County to implement three actions that will improve pedestrian safety.
Loh detailed in his email that campus and county police forces will be highly visible on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until 3:30 a.m.; the university will launch educational safety campaigns in order to increase personal awareness and responsibility; and the city and the university will communicate with the SHA about making changes to Route 1 while the audit unfolds.
In wake of the recent accidents – which killed two of the five pedestrians that were stuck near Route 1’s intersections – and the demands from the city and the university, the SHA, which ultimately has the final say about implementing long-term traffic safety measures, will be meeting with city and university officials in the next week or two, Rakowski said.
Despite the SHA previously and tentatively meeting with officials and conducting an audit, there were members of the university community who thought more permanent and aggressive action should have been implemented.
University student Megan Keane started a Change.org petition on April 17, which called for the city to build brick barriers on the sidewalk outside regular student hotspots R.J. Bentley’s and Cornerstone Grill and Loft, to prevent people from jaywalking or stepping into the streets. The wall would funnel students to the crosswalks. The petition accumulated more than 2,700 signatures.
University Police Spokeswoman Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas said that brick walls outside these busy street corners, along with other measures, could improve pedestrian safety.
“If you look at layout right now, there is a brick wall on southbound Route 1, and it is used as a barrier,” Hoaas said. “You don’t see it on the opposite side. People have asked why there isn’t a wall between Hartwick Road and Knox Road on the northbound side or why there isn’t something on the median to prevent people from using it as a safe point.”
In addition to incorporating brick walls, Hoaas suggested that educating the community is a crucial short-term solution. “[Pedestrian safety] is a behavioral change,” Hoaas said. “Now that police officers are on Route 1, they are approaching individuals [who are jaywalking] and handing them pre-formatted warnings that inform them about pedestrian and motorist laws.”
Hoaas said pedestrians are becoming more cognizant of their behaviors.
“The way some pedestrians behave is reckless,” Anika Reed, a sophomore at the university, said. “Why would people think that they’re invincible as pedestrians? It’s simple stuff that we are taught as children, and people conveniently forget that when they get to college.
“I think that reckless individuals should be punished, either by a fine or by some other measure,” Reed added.
City Councilman Alan Hew said that lowering the speed limit to 25 mph is part of the equation – however, it is not a solution to pedestrian safety. “People tend to go 10 mph over the speed limit anyways. If the speed limit was reduced to 25 mph, people would probably go 35 mph, and that can still create an impact when a car collides with a person.”
City Councilman Monroe Dennis agreed that lowering the speed limit could be an effective measure – however, only with reducing the degree of an injury in a motor vehicle and pedestrian collision. “I am not so sure that the number of incidents, especially those of “jaywalking nature” would decrease. Crosswalks, and designated crossing areas, along with effective signals, are there for a purpose.
Photo Credits- Alessia Grunberger