Pedestrian safety concerns persist in Montgomery County

By Ari Ashe, wtop.com

WASHINGTON - Crossing some roads in Montgomery County has proved to be a dangerous task for pedestrians.

Officials have recently cracked down on pedestrian safety and have seen promising results. Montgomery County officials say that since 2009, serious accidents involving pedestrians have dropped by 21 percent. In 2012, six pedestrians died, as compared to 19 in 2008.

However, some residents say more needs to be done to ensure the safety of pedestrians.

Barbara McCann, founder of the National Complete Streets Coalition, says Montgomery County officials are not doing enough to fix the core problems, especially at wide intersections that take a long time for pedestrians to cross.

"It's a little bit like saying the bailing is working. We're bailing the boat and we're not sinking," McCann says. "But there's still a great big hole at the bottom of the boat and that hole is the failure to think about pedestrians during the initial planning process."
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