Residents said they "want to make Brookland the slowest neighborhood in the city" Wednesday after a 5-year-old girl was hit and killed while riding a bike in DC last week.
Neighbors said they feel they have to avoid main roads and more congested highways due to drivers in the area.
"I think the frustration is palpable for all of us," ANC Commissioner Prita Kohli Piekara said.
Five-year-old Allison Hart was hit by a pickup truck and died while riding her bicycle toward the intersection of 14th and Irving NE streets on September 13. Police said the driver did not pass a stop sign and was not at fault.
However, News4 cameras captured images of many other drivers not stopping or not doing what is known as a "rolling stop," including a DC police patrol car.
"They don't stop," said one resident. "They practically go into the intersection."
At a Neighborhood Advisory Committee meeting, Allison's death sparked a torrent of concern about traffic safety in the neighborhood, home to many families who walk and bike through its tree-lined streets.
Many believe there are far more traffic violations and vehicle crashes there than the police track.
โThere was a three-week period in July where I called 911 three times and a car removed the stop sign entirely. That stop sign was under the car, โsaid one resident.
The number of crashes is a major factor in deciding how the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) assigns traffic signs, stop signs, and other traffic calming measures.
DDOT representative Linda Bailey addressed the concerns.
"I was actually at a meeting about unreported crashes today and we know they happen," Bailey said.
The District has seen more than two dozen traffic-related deaths so far this year. DC police report 28 deaths from vehicle collisions so far this year. There were 37 in all of 2020, the worst year of traffic fatalities in DC since 2008.
