WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Neighbors in Northwest D.C. are taking road safety matters into their own hands with flags to help people cross busy 34th St. in Cleveland Park.
The idea is you take one of the “See Me Flags” so kids and adults will be seen when crossing the road.
Neighbors said it’s only one solution and hope D.C.’s Department of Transportation (DDOT) takes notice that they’re serious about safety.
On a busy weekday afternoon, cars fly up and down 34th St.
“The cars are speeding very quickly. They do not watch out for pedestrians, even kids going to school,” said Natalia Hetemaeki.
DC News Now witnessed multiple kids trying to cross the road after school as several cars didn’t stop for them.
“We got these [flags] because of regular, very serious accident at the intersections of 34th and Newark and 34th and Ordway,” said Sarah Rogers Morris.
Rogers Morris collected money from neighbors to buy these “See Me Flags” for visibility.
“We needed to take matters into our own hands. DDOT has been unresponsive for over a year and a half,” Rogers Morris said.
She said kids at Eaton Elementary School – two blocks south – are especially at risk, and why the kids themselves got involved two months ago.
“A group of fifth graders got together and collected signatures of 400 students at Eaton Elementary,” Rogers Morris said. “They wrote a letter. They create signs trying to get the attention of DDOT.”
“What I see now is that parents walk the children to school and walk them home again because they don’t trust the drivers. I mean, it’s sad,” said Frances Maclean.
Without DDOT’s help, Rogers Morris said that it would only be a matter of time “before a child is hit.”
A DDOT spokesperson told DC News Now that it is looking into the matter and looking at data from the intersections.
