Immigrants, Esp. Women Don't Feel Safe Walking Along Leesburg Pike, Falls Church: Pedestrian Survey

Last edited Wed Jun 15, 2022, 09:58 AM - Edit history (1)

- NPR, June 14, 2022. Ed.

A survey taken in the Culmore neighborhood of Falls Church found that the majority of the community – which has a high immigrant population – does not feel safe walking or biking along Leesburg Pike. As a result of report issued on the survey, community members and advocacy groups are urging Fairfax County and the Virginia Department of Transportation to improve pedestrian safety along portions of the busy corridor.

"We feel that because we're immigrants, we're being discriminated against," says Aurora Gamez, who has lived in the community for nearly 2 decades. "This is one of the areas that they care about the least when it comes to traffic signals & lighting." The survey was conducted earlier this year by the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a traffic safety organization, and CASA, an immigrant advocacy group, as concerns over the conditions of the corridor reached a boiling point.

In 2021 there were 8 pedestrian related crashes on Leesburg Pike, including one in December where a driver struck and killed a 68 year-old woman. At the time, police reported that she was walking near the shoulder of the road due to the lack of sidewalks. Sonya Breehey, the Northern Virginia advocacy manager for the CSG, says according to the report, immigrant community members can face similar risks in their day-to-day lives.

This community walks, bikes, and uses the bus at a significantly higher rate than the rest of Fairfax County. They need these improvements for their quality of life, for their safety, for their families," says Breehey. The report also found that women walk at higher rates on a daily basis in comparison to men, and that they feel less safe traversing the neighborhood. "73% of the women said they don't feel safe, which is very unsettling to me," says Breehey. "They cite poor lighting, the lack of connected sidewalks and minimal safe crossing options."...

https://www.npr.org/local/305/2022/06/14/1104976834/immigrants-don-t-feel-safe-walking-along-leesburg-pike-according-to-pedestrian-survey