NOV. 27, 2016 Renee Moore presented Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s (WABA), first community outreach workshop about traffic safety at Dorothy I. Height/Benning Neighborhood Library on Sunday. WABA has adopted the safety principles from Vision Zero. Vision Zero, established in 1997, primary goal is to keep pedestrians, bikers, and drivers safe. Another important aspect of Vision Zero is parenting with associations like WABA that educate the community about ensuring traffic safety and limiting untimely deaths. Vision Zero has reported in the last 12 months there three deaths due to distracted driving or intoxicated drivers. Moore revealed those three unfortunate deaths were Margaret “Peggy” Ruth Dickie, Adjoko Lassey and Lorenzo Queen. These three deaths influence why WABA has adopted Vision Zero safety plans. Vision Zero aims to have no deaths due to traffic accidents with bikers or pedestrians. Reene Moore believes her community outreach workshops are important because it educates the community about traffic safety laws. She particularly wanted to focus community outreaches in wards seven and eight. Prior to Sunday, ward seven has not been educated in traffic safety laws from WABA. Moore discusses the possible causes of 75 percent of traffic fatalities involving African-Americans (D.C. Dot Transport). I think [the death rates are] higher for us [blacks] because we tend to live in neighborhoods that use transit more so we tend to be walking more. And drive a little bit less, due to financial reasons, parking. It could be the areas live in. Planners do not come back and look at the areas. Also, we don’t know that we can advocate for changes. Marky Bey out of N.E., uses his bicycle as his main method of transportation. Bey appreciates workshops such as WABA’s emphasis on traffic safety. Bey believes the purpose of the event is to “enlighten the community about what’s going on as far as traffic and bike related [safety].” Bey is concerned about the congestion of vehicles on Benning Road NE and the traffic cautions of having no bike lanes. Raymond Tolson also a Washington native has been riding bicycles since he was 12-years-old. Although Tolson has been riding bikes for years he still has fears of injures from riding in D.C. He recalls, “not [having] enough room between the curb and the cars. And there [being] no designated area to ride the bike.” Tolson believes D.C. should add more bike lanes in areas such as Benning Road NE to ensure the safety of bikers. Moore wants to continue her community outreach workshops. Her upcoming workshop will be held in ward one. She still plans to return to ward seven in the Deanwood area next year to further educate the community about traffic safety.
