Washington, DC Pace Car Program Launched

With traffic accidents still a major danger in Washington, DC, especially for pedestrians and bicyclists, the District of Columbia Department of Transpiration (DDOT) and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) have launched a "DC Neighborhood Pace Car Program."

Motorists who agree to drive the speed limit will sport a special bumper sticker on their car that says "DC NEIGHBORHOOD PACE CAR 25MPH.

The purpose of this program, according to WABA is: "To encourage drivers to drive the legal speed limit on neighborhood streets; to encourage driver awareness of the neighborhoods and not just the road through the neighborhoods; to raise awareness that motorists share the roads with people walking and cyclists, and to promote courteous habits."

Slower cars are safer cars. The laws of physics apply universally when it comes to car crashes: The amount of energy in a crash --the damage done-- is a function of the square of the impact speed. At 20 MPH your chance of being killed by a car as a pedestrian is about 5 percent -- survivable. At 30 MPH the risk of death is 40 percent. And at 40 MPH your chance of being killed if hit by a car is over 80 percent. Reducing speed also decreases the likelihood of a pedestrian, cyclist or other car being hit in the first place, because drivers have more time to react at slower speeds. (Drivers take between 1.5 and 3 seconds to react to something unexpected.)

Washington, DC residents can obtain a Pace Car Sicker and find out more about this program at http://waba.org/pacecar.

For more information about pedestrian fatalities visit http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/08/motorcycle_deaths.html.