Overview
- The Metropolitan Police Department began the outreach Friday and will run the campaign through the end of the year focusing on high-use corridors such as Gallery Place–Chinatown, U Street and Navy Yard.
- Officials say overall traffic fatalities in the District have risen 62 percent year over year and that six deaths this year involved micromobility devices, with four on e-bikes and two on e-scooters.
- Officers are stopping riders to hand out safety flyers, advise helmet use, warn against sidewalk riding in the Central Business District, discourage multiple riders and headphone use, and issue warnings or citations where rules apply.
- The program followed the Oct. 9 Capitol Hill crash that killed Talib Shakir, a city official, in which police said neither rider wore a helmet and one scooter was believed to be traveling at high speed.
- City leaders are working with DDOT and the mayor’s office on possible regulatory changes while advocates press for mandatory helmet access, registration or insurance rules, and improved bike lane connections as longer-term safety steps.