Photo of the ghost bike by Karen Ramsey
Karen Ramsey has been a DC area resident off and on since 1994 and is currently a denizen of Trinidad neighborhood.
There is now a white painted bicycle at the intersection of H Street and 3rd Street NE. The evening of June 23, 2018, Malik Habib was killed there after a charter bus driver struck him after his tire caught in the streetcar track as he was returning home from work. This was the first of two recent fatal accidents involving vehicles drivers and bike riders in the District: The second one was at 21st and M Streets NW where a delivery truck driver turned a bike lane striking Jeffery Long, who was biking in the designated protected bike lane.
On Tuesday, July 31st advocates for safer streets will hold a memorial bike ride to honor Malik Habib’s life and memory. Riders will gather at 5:30 p.m. at 1st and K Streets NE before proceeding as a group to H Street. More information can be found at the event page on Facebook under Ride4Malik (bit.ly/Ride4Malik). Participants can wear white clothing, if possible, to mirror the white ghost bike. If you wish to participate and honor Malik’s memory but do not have access to a bike, this will be a very slow ride so you can walk on the sidewalk as the group rides, or you can meet them at 3rd and H Streets.
The bicycle community in DC has been vocal in advocating for safer streets for all users: pedestrians, bicycle riders, and vehicle drivers alike. This memorial ride follows on a similar one for Jeffrey Long and a subsequent day of protest and advocacy led by the Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA) at the John O. Wilson Building. Malik’s mother, Laura Montiel, and brother, Cyrus Habib participated in the protest and spoke of the need for solutions to make streets safer. Cyrus, who was with his brother at the time of the accident asked, “What is more important? That you arrive home 30 seconds earlier for dinner or that I arrive home alive?”
The District has a plan, Vision Zero, to eliminate all traffic-related deaths in the city by 2024. While that goal is likely not attainable, the increase in traffic deaths in the first half of 2018 over statistics from last year is counter to the promise to implement projects to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities. As Ms. Montiel noted at the protest, her son did not have to die. There are solutions to reduce accident and deaths that can be implemented.
Rachel Maisler, an organizer of the memorial rides and protest, highlighted what is needed to make DC’s streets safer for all users:
- Flaps on the street car tracks (to close the gap and help prevent tires from lodging in the track)
- Enforcement on existing traffic laws, especially speed and not parking or idling in designated bike lanes
- Improving sight lines for drivers so they can see pedestrians and bikers
- Repainting intersection crosswalks and areas where bike lanes and car lanes are present
- No turns on red lights in the downtown areas of the city
- DC Council oversight hearings to hold the Department of Transportation (DDOT), Department of Public Works (DPW) and the Police Department accountable for safe infrastructure and enforcement of traffic and parking laws.
H Street has also seen a recent fatal accident involving a driver striking and killing Oren Dorrell, a neighbor in Trinidad who was riding his motorcycle on H Street NE, and a multiple car collision after a driver charged with DUI struck over a half dozen cars flipping one over. Changes that been demanded in DC would reduce risk of crashes such as these.
Please join the call for safer streets for all and attend the memorial in Malik Habib’s memory.