We Need Metro More Than Ever

Dear smart growth supporters,

Please sign our petition calling on our region's elected officials to commit to fully funding our Metro System.

Last year, transit ridership in the Washington region surged. Metro had a record-breaking year with thousands of new riders, saving 255 million gallons of gasoline and cutting our region's carbon emissions by 2 million tons, according to a report released by Environment America. As our region grows, Metro will continue to be one of the most important solutions for reducing our carbon footprint.

The Metro system is also the lifeblood of our economy. Yet, Metro hasn’t received the operating and maintenance funds it critically needs or the resources to add enough new rail cars and buses to keep up with growing ridership.

Metro is convenient, offering a way to avoid frustrating and often unpredictable traffic, and saving us time and money compared to the increasing cost of owning, maintaining, and fueling our cars. Our roads couldn’t function without Metro’s help. Metro has sparked billions of dollars in transit-oriented development and helped revitalize DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda and Silver Spring.

Metro Needs Sustained Investment

Join the Coalition for Smarter Growth and the Transit First coalition in a campaign to ensure Metro has the investment it needs in three key areas:

1) Funding for annual operating and maintenance expenses ($160 million shortfall next year);
2) Funding for replacement of track, switches, electrical power systems, and station platforms;
3) Funding for new buses and rail cars to keep up with growing transit ridership.

Total replacement (2) and capacity needs (3) between 2011 and 2020 is $11.4 billion. A bill currently in Congress would address some of this need. Part of a 10-year proposal to match $1.5 billion in federal funds to $1.5 billion in state and local funds, this year’s bill would allocate $150 million in 2010. But we will need additional commitments each year from local, state, and federal governments for not just the $3 billion, but the full $11.4 billion in needs.

For comparison, the region has spent about $4.6 billion on the Beltway (Wilson Bridge, Springfield Interchange and HOT Lanes) and $3 billion on the Intercounty Connector in recent years, and Maryland DOT is now proposing $4 billion to widen I-270 to Frederick. Clearly, we have to make choices -- we believe that investing in Metro should be a top priority, because of the many benefits it offers.

Please sign the petition.

Transit Ridership Surges & Offers Range of Benefits, New Report Shows

We co-released a report with Environment America about the increase in transit ridership across the country in 2008. This comprehensive report (pdf) is the first to quantify the increase in transit ridership and decrease in vehicle miles traveled as people shifted to transit to escape high gas prices. Read our press release for more information.

The report also quantifies the savings in oil consumed and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Our dependency on imported oil and driving impacts both our wallets and our national security. Transit increases our energy independence and will ensure we have travel options as gas prices remain high over the coming years and decades. The DC region should be a national and world leader in sustainable transportation and land use, and should make funding our transit systems our top priority.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Perring
Coalition For Smarter Growth
action@smartergrowth.net

On August 18, the Seattle Times reported, that the state Court of Appeals rejected a Seattle ordinance that criminalized traffic violations when someone is seriously hurt or killed. On the following day, KOMO news reported, "Cyclists on crash course to set deadly record . . . twice as many fatalities as all of 2008." Four bicyclists had already died in Seattle this year.

While pedestrians and bicycles sometimes share a rather wary alliance, our unity comes from a shared vulnerability to the speed and mass associated with motorized travel.

Jointly, we also are tired of hearing about terrible “accidents” where a motorist kills or grievously injures a vulnerable roadway user by failing to drive in a safe and lawful manner with the only consequence for the motorist being a traffic ticket that doesn’t even require a court appearance and includes no license suspension or driver retraining.

Advocates and community members are shocked after a serious collision injures or kills a bicyclist when they discover that the driver who caused the crash will be prosecuted only for a traffic violation. When this happens, a motorist may pay a base-fine of as little as $42, receive no license suspension, and resolve the matter by sending a check to the court by mail.

It is these problems coupled with several high visibility fatalities in Washington in the last several years, in which the driver was cited merely for Failure to Yield, that have highlighted our urgency to change the law.

The need for reform is the result of the fact that law enforcement officers and prosecutors have few options under Washington law to charge negligent driving resulting in serious injuries or death. The state law on the books that determines a crime for negligent driving is when it causes a death and the driver:

“(1) When the death of any person ensues within three years as a proximate result of injury proximately caused by the driving of any vehicle by any person, the driver is guilty of vehicular homicide if the driver was operating a motor vehicle:

(a) While under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug, as defined by RCW 46.61.502; or

(b) In a reckless manner; or

(c) With disregard for the safety of others.

Vehicular Homicide, RCW 46.61.250

This crime (“Vehicular Homicide” or RCW 46.61.250) is a Class A felony with a maximum sentence of “life imprisonment.” The statutory requirement for “reckless” is “Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property” and is sufficiently harder to prove than “regular negligence.” As it requires proof of deliberate intent, the additional requirement of a “wanton or willful” creates a difficult burden for a prosecutor in most cases that involve dangerous driving such as speeding, failing to yield right of way, turning into the path of a bicyclist, or being distracted by a cell phone conversation. If prosecutors do not feel that they can sustain a conviction for careless or negligent driving, then there is little chance that the prosecution will be initiated.

Because the present standard requires the level of poor driving substantially above “mere negligence,” the few prosecutions that do occur usually include some sort of gross deviation from the standard of care like driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

There is also the view among some in law enforcement that because bicyclists and pedestrians are more vulnerable, it is foreseeable that there will be the occasional severe injuries and fatalities. It’s seen as the inevitable tradeoff between safety and the easy mobility of the auto.

Washington needs a new law making it illegal to cause serious bodily injury or death to vulnerable roadway users due to ordinary negligence. Ordinary negligence should be defined as committing a traffic infraction that endangers life and property. Prosecutors would be more likely to charge this crime if it was easier to prove and less serious than the present crimes of Vehicular Assault or Vehicular Homicide.

In addition, law enforcement would be more likely to recommend criminal prosecution for if a new status of crime victims was more widely recognized that would include bicyclists and other roadway users who are more vulnerable to being injured by negligent driving than persons encased in the protective steel of motor vehicles.