Action Committee for Transit
@actfortransit.bsky.social
4.4K followers 680 following 7.6K posts
We advocate for more & better transit; streets safe for everyone; & housing & land use policies to make this possible. In Montgomery County, Maryland. http://linktr.ee/actfortransit
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actfortransit.bsky.social
Catching up on about 6 weeks of crashes involving non-motorists, with police reports, in Montgomery County MD.
actfortransit.bsky.social
Please make this safer. Ok, we'll add a sign.
Please make this safer. No, then people would feel unjustifiably safe.
Please make this safer. No, that would delay cars.
Please make this safer. No, the MUTCD doesn't let us.
Please make this safer. No, it's an enforcement issue.

Meanwhile 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
actfortransit.bsky.social
And vote for/elect people who prioritize safety over vehicle throughput.
actfortransit.bsky.social
Contrary view: the car drop-off/pick-up line was terrible before 2020, too.
patrickwyman.bsky.social
Watching antisocial driver behavior in the school drop-off line makes it really clear that the pandemic destroyed whatever few shreds remained of the social compact, just pathological selfishness on display every day
actfortransit.bsky.social
More from the Kemp Mill and University Boulevard Car Lobbies. bsky.app/profile/actf...
actfortransit.bsky.social
So there's a Change Dot Org petition about the University Blvd Corridor Plan, and boy howdy is it Car Lobby stuff.
The title of the petition is Mo Co Council: Vote Down the University Boulevard Corridor Plan. The graphic is two images, side by side, with the title Which Future Do You Want? The left image is a six-lane, two-way road with literally one car on it, the rest is empty asphalt and a grass median. The right image is lots and lots and lots of cars on apparently a four-lane, one-way road. Both images probably generated by generative AI. 792 people have signed.
actfortransit.bsky.social
The Kemp Mill Car Lobby supports dangerous driving.
bnhowe.bsky.social
And when we try to make changes, neighbors organize with rhetoric like this. Kemp Mill Civic Association is riling up fear of having to pay tickets (avoidable by not speeding) while people are killed on these roads. It’s disgusting.
Reposted by Action Committee for Transit
sgoodyear.bsky.social
People do not want to admit how dangerous driving is because it undermines their entire reality. So they pretend speed limits are about money.
bnhowe.bsky.social
And when we try to make changes, neighbors organize with rhetoric like this. Kemp Mill Civic Association is riling up fear of having to pay tickets (avoidable by not speeding) while people are killed on these roads. It’s disgusting.
actfortransit.bsky.social
Not just an unsafe slip lane, but an unsafe slip lane NEXT TO A HIGH SCHOOL.
Reposted by Action Committee for Transit
actfortransit.bsky.social
It's legal to ride on the sidewalk everywhere in Montgomery County, Maryland, except the City of Takoma Park.

And also some sidewalks are also officially bike paths.

And also you can't tell which ones just by looking.

Anyway, every sidewalk bicyclist is a vote for protected bike lanes!
A person bicycling on an asphalt sidewalk, which is officially a multi-use sidepath, next to a painted bike lane going the other direction. The painted bike lane is on the side of a four lane road plus turn lanes with a speed limit of 40 mph. There is also a person walking two dogs on the sidepath.
actfortransit.bsky.social
It's legal to ride on the sidewalk everywhere in Montgomery County, Maryland, except the City of Takoma Park.

And also some sidewalks are also officially bike paths.

And also you can't tell which ones just by looking.

Anyway, every sidewalk bicyclist is a vote for protected bike lanes!
A person bicycling on an asphalt sidewalk, which is officially a multi-use sidepath, next to a painted bike lane going the other direction. The painted bike lane is on the side of a four lane road plus turn lanes with a speed limit of 40 mph. There is also a person walking two dogs on the sidepath.
actfortransit.bsky.social
"In consultation with the Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney, charges have been filed against the driver involved in the recent fatal pedestrian accident [sic]."

#CrashNotAccident
actfortransit.bsky.social
Here's a 3-part letter published in the Montgomery Perspective blog.

Part 1: Shopping center redevelopment is bad.
Part 2: More housing is bad.
Part 3: Bike lanes are bad.

Which really just reflects the general opinion that change is bad.
1) The redevelopment of the Westbard shopping center which on one hand caused us to lose beloved retail merchants including the Anglo-Dutch Toy store, the dry cleaner, and the pet store among others, and on the other hand took away our convenient Giant with surface parking and replaced it with a terrible, crime-ridden parking garage. Who likes to ride an elevator to access a grocery store anyway?! 2) More Housing N.O.W. / ZTA 25-02 initiatives which will increase the density in our neighborhoods without increasing the roads, schools, emergency services, storm water management, tree canopy, etc. We have fought hard against this, organizing protests in our neighborhood including a walk with Council Member Friedson on April 21, 2025, we’ve testified at hearings, sent letters, signed petitions, etc. The worst parts of this initiative are a) that it is allegedly supposed to provide affordable housing for nurses, teachers, and firefighters, but duplexes are excluded from the requirement of providing any affordable housing, meaning they will just double the density in existing neighborhoods at market rates and b) up to 3 lots can be chained together so that apartment buildings can be built in single-family neighborhoods, bringing increased density and all its ills and fundamentally changing the character of our neighborhoods. The main beneficiary of this all is likely to be developers who now will have a freer hand to build more and bigger than ever before. 3) Reconfiguration of Little Falls Parkway (LFP) which has led to increased traffic and congestion in our neighborhoods. Instead of LFP being a convenient little car thoroughfare connecting the southern end of the county with shopping in Bethesda, going between neighborhoods rather than through them, the Council has now decided in its infinite wisdom to spend $1.7 million of taxpayer money to take away two of the car lanes to allegedly make it safer for bikes and pedestrians. This is completely unnecessary given that the Capital Crescent Trail provides a convenient, nearby, parallel route for bikes and pedestrians.
actfortransit.bsky.social
You're riding your e-bike to get to transit to get to work, on a sidewalk that is officially a bike path, and a distracted driver hits and seriously injures you in a marked crosswalk designed for drivers to drive right over.

E-bikes are not the problem, and neither is riding on the sidewalk.
actfortransit.bsky.social
Our roads reflect the belief that people's safety is less important than preventing vehicle delay.
actfortransit.bsky.social
On Tues 8/19/25 6:23 am
the distracted driver (40/M) of a 2008 Chevrolet Impala
turning right from Progress Way to Frederick Rd/355
hit & seriously injured a person (27/M) on an e-bike
properly crossing a slip lane in a marked crosswalk.
Gaithersburg police (EJ7898006Q) found the driver at fault.
Satellite image of a four-way signalized intersection with three marked crosswalks. The south leg is unmarked. The west leg has a slip lane for driving east to south without having to stop for a red light. The slip lane has a marked crosswalk. There is a red X in that marked crosswalk, indicating the location of the crash. There is a red arrow pointing east toward the red X, indicating the path of the driver. There is a blue arrow pointing south from a pork chop island toward the red X, indicating the path of the person on the e-bike, who was riding properly on the sidewalk.
actfortransit.bsky.social
On Tues 8/19/25 6:23 am
the distracted driver (40/M) of a 2008 Chevrolet Impala
turning right from Progress Way to Frederick Rd/355
hit & seriously injured a person (27/M) on an e-bike
properly crossing a slip lane in a marked crosswalk.
Gaithersburg police (EJ7898006Q) found the driver at fault.
Satellite image of a four-way signalized intersection with three marked crosswalks. The south leg is unmarked. The west leg has a slip lane for driving east to south without having to stop for a red light. The slip lane has a marked crosswalk. There is a red X in that marked crosswalk, indicating the location of the crash. There is a red arrow pointing east toward the red X, indicating the path of the driver. There is a blue arrow pointing south from a pork chop island toward the red X, indicating the path of the person on the e-bike, who was riding properly on the sidewalk.
actfortransit.bsky.social
Good morning to everyone who is thinking about winter coats.
artologica.net
The little ones are starting to get their winter coats #sqrlpix
small gray squirrel with thicker winter coat growing on hindquarters
actfortransit.bsky.social
Streets are for dancing people in inflatable costumes.
actfortransit.bsky.social
There has to be legal liability for failing to mitigate a known hazard.
bsky.app/profile/actf...
actfortransit.bsky.social
September 2020: driver hits & critically injures 21-year-old pedestrian.
September 2022: MD SHA makes "safety improvements" as part of repaving: adds white line at curb, repaints marked crosswalk from hi-vis zebra to hi-vis continental.
September 2025: driver hits & kills 16-year-old pedestrian.
An uncontrolled marked crosswalk across seven lanes. Google Streetview from July 2017. There is a pedestrian crossing sign at each end. The crosswalk marking is zebra. An uncontrolled marked crosswalk across seven lanes. Google Streetview from December 2024. There is a pedestrian crossing sign at each end. The crosswalk marking is continental.
actfortransit.bsky.social
The posted speed limit now is 30. It was 35 a few years ago. It is easy to drive 40+, especially downhill.

In 2023, Parks had a plan to install a flashing beacon in 2024. Not sure what happened with that.
actfortransit.bsky.social
AND AGAIN.

On Thurs 8/21/25 8:50 am
the driver (69/F) of a 2009 Lexus ES
going north on Baltimore Rd
hit & injured a pedestrian (53/M)
crossing properly in a marked crosswalk on the Rock Creek Trail.
Police (MCP9379005P) found the driver at fault: failed to yield ROW.
Satellite image of a trail crossing of a two-lane road. There is a continental marked crosswalk. There is a red X in the crosswalk, indicating the location of the crash. There is a red arrow pointing north toward the red X, indicating the path of the driver. There is a blue arrow pointing west toward the red X, indicating the path of the pedestrian, approaching from the driver's right.
actfortransit.bsky.social
Safe, convenient, comfortable bike infrastructure helps everyone, including this #TransitCat.💜
purplebandanna.bsky.social
Doing everyday things on a bicycle: taking Miss Alice for her vet appointment.

Between the Alewife Brook Greenway, Linear Park, and Somerville Community Path, only 2-3 block involve riding on the street.
An orange calico kitty in a cat carrier, strapped to the back of a red cargo bike.
actfortransit.bsky.social
On Sat 8/23/25 10:28 am
the driver (55/M) of a 2012 Hyundai Sonata
who was turning left at the intersection of Glen Rd & S Glen Rd
hit & injured a person (54/M) on a bicycle
who was riding properly in the road.
Police (MCP320000GH) found the driver at fault: failed to yield ROW.
Google Streetview of a T intersection of two two-lane rustic roads, all with guard rails and no pavement markings.
actfortransit.bsky.social
On Sat 8/23/25 11:50 am
the driver (57/M) of a 2025 Mazda CX-90
[looking left while] turning right from the Shell station at Rollins Ave to Rockville Pike/355
hit & injured a pedestrian (32/M)
walking properly on the sidewalk.
Police (MCP2968005X) found the driver at fault.
Satellite image of a corner gas station with three driveways. In the southernmost driveway, there is a red X where the sidewalk crosses the driveway, indicating the location of the crash. There is a blue arrow pointing north toward the red X, indicating the path of the pedestrian on the sidewalk, approaching the driver from the driver's right side. There is a red arrow pointing east toward the red X, indicating the path of the driver leaving the gas station.