DC Cyclists & Pedestrians Protest Recent Deaths

by | Aug 7, 2018

Malik Habib was with his brother the night he was killed on June 23rd. “[W]e were just riding our bikes, doing a food delivery service on our bicycles,” recalls Cyrus. Malik’s tire got caught in a streetcar track on H Street, NE, and he was hit and killed by a bus. Cyrus was just 10 feet from him when it happened.

Laura Montiel, Cyrus and Malik’s mother, spoke publicly for the first time recently at a protest organized by the Washington Area Bicyclist Association outside of the Wilson Building. “My son did not have to die! Safety now.” She also said,“I am not an avid cyclist, I am a mother who lost her child.”

Within two weeks after Malik’s death, 36 year-old Jeffery Long was killed while riding in the protected bike lane on M Street, NW. He was hit by a truck turning right. In 2015, DC launched ‘Vision Zero,‘ with the goal of having zero traffic-related deaths by 2024. Since the launch of that campaign, traffic deaths have sadly increased.

In 2018 alone, there have already been 21 deaths, which is already higher than last year. Whatever DC believes it is doing to work towards Vision Zero, it clearly is not working. DC needs to take a good, long look at its policies, revamp them, and implement real solutions as soon as possible, before yet another life gets taken.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This