A northeast D.C. Intersection was blocked by safe street advocates Sunday afternoon as they called attention to a crosswalk where a 5-year-old girl was killed.
The intersection of 14th and Irving Street Northeast turned into a palette for children, parents and safe street advocates to draw their memories of 5-year-old Allison Hart as part of a “chalk-in” event.
“This is a residential area. We’re surrounded by a school, some houses, a church, but drivers treat our roads like highways and that’s not okay and that’s why people keep getting killed by drivers,” Rachel Maisler said.
Maisler is a “chalk-in” event co-organizer and chair of the D.C. bicycle advisory council.
Hart was struck and killed by a van while riding her bike in the intersection in September.
“It’s really beautiful,” Allison’s father Bryan Hart said to WTOP during the event. “The problem is with how our streets are built.”
Police came and blocked off the surrounding streets leading up to the chalk in all four directions.
Kiki Schneider said her son Cyrus was best friends with Allison.
He drew the words “Cyrus loves Allie” in the street with chalk.
“We just try to remember the good times we had,” Schnieder said. “They were friends since they were babies.”
Maisler said the goal of the event was to call on Mayor Muriel Bowser to take action to make D.C. streets safer.
“We want roads to be designed to prioritize the people who live here and not the people who are speeding through,” Maisler said.
Schneider said that she has been trying to get a stop sign put on a road in front of her house nearby without success.
“I hope that this sparks something where they can when citizens request this kind of stuff it actually happens,” Schneider said. “I hope that the council and the mayor do try to make a difference now that they see the impact it has had on a whole community and so many people.”
