Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

GUMC Students Hurt in Hit and Run

KIRK ZIESER FOR THE HOYA Two Georgetown University medical students were victims of a hit-and-run incident in Tenleytown on Sept. 5. D.C. police are still investigating.

The Metropolitan Police Department is conducting an ongoing investigation in search of the driver responsible for hitting two Georgetown University medical students in a hit-and-run incident Sept. 5, according to MPD Communications Director Dustin Sternbeck.

The two students, Rayva Khanna (MED ’22) and Areeg Abu El Hawa (MED ’22), were crossing the street at approximately 7:20 p.m. at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue NW and Albemarle Street NW in Tenleytown when they were hit by a black sedan making a left turn into the pedestrian crosswalk, according to MPD. The driver, whom Abu El Hawa identified as a young man talking on the phone, immediately drove away following the incident, according to The Washington Post.

Khanna and Abu El Hawa sustained non-life-threatening injuries from the accident.

MPD published surveillance footage of the hit-and-run incident collected by a nearby camera in an Oct. 2 announcement seeking the public’s assistance in locating the driver and vehicle of interest. A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered to anyone who can supply information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator as part of MPD’s Crime Solvers of Washington, D.C. program.

Khanna and Abu El Hawa plan to press charges against the driver once he has been identified, Abu El Hawa said.

“But the fact he ran away and didn’t check on us, I don’t want that person in the road,” Abu El Hawa told The Washington Post. “He doesn’t have a value on life, and that kind of person needs to be rehabilitated and educated.”

Khanna hopes the driver will be prevented from causing any more accidents, according to The Washington Post.

“He’s just living his life, and my friend is going to all these doctor’s appointments,” Khanna said. “He’s faced no consequences for having done something horrible. He needs to not be driving right now.”

D.C. has had three transportation-related deaths in the month of September alone, according to WTOP.

Similar incidents over the past few years have pressured the District to take action to reduce the number of traffic-related injuries. The District Department of Transportation launched Vision Zero in 2016, an initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries by the year 2024.

D.C. councilmembers and other District officials raised concerns about a lack of pedestrian safety despite the Vision Zero initiative at a joint public roundtable held by the D.C. Council Committee on Transportation and the Environment and the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety Sept. 27.

Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), co-chair of the hearing, questioned the District’s slow pace in implementing the Vision Zero initiative, citing the deaths of a bike rider and scooter rider earlier that week.

“Where is the urgency to fix dangerous intersections and curbing dangerous driving before someone is killed?” Allen said in his opening statement.

At the hearing, other councilmembers, David Grosso (I-At Large) and Brandon Todd (D-Ward 4), expressed their agreement with Councilmember Allen and called for the city to hasten making the adjustments necessary for safer roads in D.C.

Co-chair Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) further emphasized the urgency of the situation.

“These deaths remind us that we’re not just talking about statistics but real lives of individuals with families, friends and co-workers,” Cheh said. “They demonstrate in a dramatically sad fashion how important the success of Vision Zero is for our community.”

DDOT has taken precautions to improve pedestrian safety as a part of the Vision Zero initiative this year, according to DDOT Director Jeff Marootian’s testimony to the D.C. Council.

“Thus far in 2018, DDOT has worked to plan, engineer and construct several roadways and corridors in all eight wards that will improve bicycle and pedestrian safety,” Marootian said. “We have also installed 19 Leading Pedestrian Intervals, modified 14 intersections that create a conflict between the dual turn lanes and pedestrian crossings and have closed 20 blocks of sidewalk gaps which is almost 8 miles closed in the last three years.”

The Vision Zero initiative is set to receive $500,000 in fiscal year 2019 grants, according to a June 21 news release. The money going towards the new initiative is earned through fines from automated traffic enforcement violations, such as speeding and running red lights. Since 2017, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) has allocated $2 million in grants to Vision Zero in hopes of improving pedestrian and cycling safety.

DDOT is dedicated to carrying out the initiative outlined by Bowser, DDOT Director of Communications Terry Owens wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“The District of Columbia is fully committed to Mayor Bowser’s Vision Zero initiative and proactively working to address transportation safety,” Owens wrote.

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