DC Police Launch E-Bike and E-Scooter Safety Outreach as Traffic Fatalities Rise 62%
WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced that, beginning October 16 and continuing through the end of the year, its street-safety outreach across all patrol districts will focus on e-bike and e-scooter riders, with increased efforts in areas with high concentrations of the devices, including the U Street Corridor, Navy Yard and Gallery Place-Chinatown.
MPD said traffic fatalities in the District have risen 62% so far this year compared with the same period last year. According to figures MPD provided to local media, six people have died this year in collisions involving e-bikes and e-scooters — four involving e-bikes and two involving e-scooters. One week before the initiative launched, a District government worker was killed in an e-scooter collision.
"We want to ensure everyone understands the rules of the road and makes safety a priority," said Interim Chief of Police Jeffery W. Carroll. "Whether you walk, drive, or ride, we all have a responsibility to protect one another and keep our streets and sidewalks safe." MPD reminded riders to travel with the flow of traffic, yield to pedestrians, follow posted signs and signals, stay off sidewalks in the Central Business District, and carry only one rider per device, and urged riders to wear helmets and bright clothing, use hand signals and avoid wearing earphones while riding.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：华盛顿Foggy Bottom街头的一辆Lime共享电动滑板车。照片：OhanaSurf，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0。Photo: A Lime e-scooter in Foggy Bottom, Washington, DC. Photo by OhanaSurf, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
