Guest column by Larry Cole.
The Montgomery County Council adopted its Vision Zero Resolution No. 18-390 on February 2, 2016, establishing the county’s goal of eliminating all severe and fatal traffic collisions by 2030. The goal is ambitious – essentially striving for perfection – but current reality is anything but.
According to the State of Maryland’s Fatal Crash Data Dashboard, Montgomery County had 42 traffic fatalities in 2016 of which 8 were pedestrians, accounting for 19% of the total. For the last four years of complete data (2022-2025), the average annual number of traffic fatalities rose to 46.5 and the average number of pedestrians killed rose to 15, accounting for over 32% of the total. Instead of being close to elimination, pedestrian fatalities have almost doubled since Vision Zero was adopted and their share of the fatalities has greatly increased. If there has been an outcry from public officials, I’ve missed it.
My experience with the issue of pedestrian safety includes 20 years spent as the Pedestrian Safety Coordinator for the Montgomery County Planning Department before retiring in 2016. During my tenure, I was a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety that was assembled by the County Executive in June 2000 after a sudden increase in pedestrian fatalities.
The Blue Ribbon Panel issued its final report in January 2002, with its main objective being a 50% reduction in pedestrian fatalities by January 2005. An advisory group was set up to oversee implementation of the report’s specific recommendations but when that 50% reduction was not met three years later, members of the group who had been appointed by the Executive were successful in suppressing any announcement of the bad news in favor of just highlighting the good work being done by staff. The history of public accountability in Montgomery County on this issue is not good.
One significant difference between the earlier County Executive-initiated effort and Vision Zero 2030 is that the latter was initiated by the County Council. As part of the County’s first Vision Zero Action Plan, the Council approved the Pedestrian Master Plan in 2023. But the Master Plan counterproductively reduced the importance of pedestrian safety by downgrading it from our longstanding primary goal to just one of four overall goals. Let me repeat that: The Pedestrian Master Plan intended to further Vision Zero’s goal of eliminating pedestrian fatalities reduced the importance of pedestrian safety.
Another major problem with the Pedestrian Master Plan is that it is not organized to promote pedestrian safety. There are 106 “key actions” with no prioritization among them. For example, having street trees to shade sidewalks (Key Action B-6) has the same level of importance as having lighting at intersections so that drivers can see pedestrians crossing in front of them (Key Action B-5). I’m sure I could think of 106 things to do around my house but making sure the gas stove is turned off at night is more important than repainting the bathroom and should be prioritized accordingly.
As reported by Dan Reed on the Greater Greater Washington blog last December, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation identified eight sidewalk segments that were needed to serve the Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center on the Purple Line, but dropped the construction project because of residents’ negative comments and a lack of funding. It should be inconceivable to spend billions of dollars on a transit line and then refuse to build the pedestrian infrastructure needed to access one of its major stations safely. There were lots of local opponents of the Purple Line itself but our public officials decided that it would be built and pedestrians need to be able to access the Purple Line and cross it safely.
Enforcement is a critical element in the success of any safety program. My observation is that driver behavior in Montgomery County has significantly deteriorated since the Covid-19 pandemic – I have seen some absolutely crazy things in the last couple of years – and enforcement has not kept up. One data point that I believe is crucial to understanding why the pedestrian environment is so unsafe is to compile a list of all the offenses associated with pedestrian safety and to correlate that list with the number of citations for each offense. My expectation is that no citations are given at all for some offenses – such as blocking crosswalks, eliminating a safety buffer for pedestrians and often forcing them out into the roadway – and that citations are issued for most of the others largely during special enforcement efforts rather than as part of officers’ normal daily routine. A thorough review of citations will show what’s actually being done right now and should inform what changes need to be made.
Ten years of the original fourteen-year Vision Zero 2030 timeline have elapsed and the problem has gotten bigger but the clock keeps ticking. The next County Executive should direct the Vision Zero Program Coordinator to brief the Council on a quarterly basis on progress in a session that is open to the public.
More importantly though, the Council needs to decide first whether they are serious about Vision Zero in regard to pedestrians. It’s fine to boast about being the first suburban jurisdiction to adopt Vision Zero but it’s not much of a boast when you’re failing so miserably.
Caveat politicus: It’s worth noting that the Council sworn in later this year will be in office in 2030 when the success or failure of Vision Zero is determined.
Larry Cole is a registered professional engineer who was the highway and pedestrian coordinator for the Montgomery County Planning Department for 20 years, reviewing almost every publicly funded transportation project proposed during that time and serving on every County-sponsored pedestrian safety committee and working group.