For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 9, 2018
ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 9, 2018—Council Vice President Nancy Navarro and Councilmember Craig Rice issued the following statement on today’s vehicle accident in Aspen Hill involving four high school students being struck at a bus stop located on Georgia Ave.
In light of this morning’s unfortunate pedestrian involved-collision along Georgia Ave. where four Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) high school students were struck by a vehicle while waiting at a bus stop, we are thinking of the students, their families and the entire Kennedy High School community. Our hearts ache for the 15-year old male student with life threatening injuries.
While the investigation is still ongoing, we will seek to review this incident with our partners at the Maryland State Highway Administration, the Maryland Department of Transportation, Montgomery County Public Schools, and the Montgomery County Police Department to understand what happened and do everything in our power to ensure the protection of our children.
In particular, we are concerned that this is another pedestrian-involved incident occurring along a high-volume state roadway. We will be requesting a joint Education and Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee meeting to discuss additional strategies that can be deployed to eliminate these types of horrible accidents.
Montgomery County has always been at the forefront of pedestrian safety, whether it’s through our Pedestrian Safety Initiative, which targets improvements in high incidence areas, planning for improved pedestrian networks and connectivity, or our early adoption of a Vision Zero plan. In fact, the Vision Zero team is partnering with Montgomery Planning to study the Aspen Hill area for traffic safety improvements, but we need our partners at the state level to assist us with these and other efforts.
Traveling to school should be a safe experience for all our student. Our children are our most precious resource and we must do everything in our power to keep them safe inside and outside of our schools.
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Release ID: 18-257