Saturday was a difficult, yet extremely important and moving day. Family members, friends, and fellow community members of Jake Cassell – killed in July while riding his bicycle along Old Georgetown Road – and Jennifer DiMauro – killed in July after she was hit while crossing Tuckerman Lane at the Bethesda Trolley Trail – gathered at both sites to remember them and to call for urgently needed safety upgrades.
Since joining the Montgomery County Council nine months ago, I have worked tirelessly to boost the County’s investment in protected bicycle lanes and pedestrian-activated crosswalk signals and to push for transportation policies that place people first by ensuring that the safety of all road users takes priority in road design.
We added funding in the County’s FY19-24 Capital Improvements Program for protected bicycle lane and shared-use bicycle-pedestrian paths. We approved the County's first master plan with a Vision Zero focus along the Veirs Mill corridor, and in the process introduced the concept that safety, not just vehicle speed, should be included in determining an intersection's functionality.
Several months ago, I met with Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn and State Highway Administration Administrator Greg Slater to urge them to adopt a more flexible and more appropriate set of traffic engineering standards focused on safety and geared more toward the reality of our more walkable and bikeable County.
We are working on a daily basis with traffic engineers at both the County and State levels for traffic-calming, safer street crossings, better lighting, and routine maintenance that will make our roads safer at numerous locations across District 1, including on Tuckerman Lane and Old Georgetown Road.
Together with residents and advocates, we've been working hard for needed improvements, but we have a long way to go.
Decades of engineering roads focused on making it as easy as possible for drivers to travel through quickly has left us fighting intersection-by-intersection, crosswalk-by-crosswalk for commonsense and proven engineering techniques that slow down drivers to safer speeds, protect vulnerable bicyclists and pedestrians, and make roads safer for everybody.
No one in Montgomery County or anywhere should fear death just to cross the street or ride their bike. We know that tragedies such as these are preventable by designing our streets, sidewalks, trails, trail crossings, and intersections focused on people. It's too late for Jake and Jennifer, but we can honor their memory by preventing the next tragedy.
Sincerely,
 
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