How safe is Ocean City for pedestrians?
In the blistering July heat, upwards of 300,000 visitors per week begin to swell across the Ocean City strip. From the crowded sidewalks, pedestrians rush across intersections as traffic is held at bay by cautionary second-by-second countdowns, some rushing outside of the crosswalk. Cyclists, meanwhile, weave their way in and out of traffic, hoping to find their spot on the road void of vehicular clutter.
While Ocean City prides itself on being a family resort with the utmost importance on safety, the concern of pedestrian accidents is one which has become a key focus of community efforts in the past few years, with the initiative of the Walk Smart campaign.
A collaboration between the Town of Ocean City, the Maryland Highway and Traffic Safety Administration and the Ocean City Police Department, as well as several local businesses, Walk Smart is an initiative aimed at promoting awareness for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers alike on proper traffic safety.
Started in 2013, a year which saw a spike in pedestrian-related incidents, Walk Smart, has made a notable impact in traffic incidents, said Jessica Waters, Town of Ocean City communications manager.
"The goal is to educate people on traffic safety in the area, brainstorm engineering efforts and enforce the efforts, we call them the three E's," Waters said. "This actually started in the late 1990s after there were several pedestrian-related incidents on Coastal Highway, a task force was formed. After the statistics started to decline, the task force kind of sizzled out until we saw another spike in pedestrian-related incidents around 2013."
Traffic incidents involving pedestrians are at an all-time low for the past six years, at 17 total incidents, according to the Ocean City Police Department's annual report for 2015. In 2012, the year prior to the initiation of Walk Smart, incidents numbered at 44, with two being fatal. In 2016, Ocean City suffered its first fatal pedestrian incident on Tuesday, May 3 when in the early morning hours, an OC police officer struck a 67-year-old Pennsylvania man near 94th Street.
"When you come to Ocean City, you have that luxury of being able to park your car and not get in it again during your stay," Waters said. "There's bars and restaurants all in walking distance in every direction, that's why we want to put a focus on people being aware of their surroundings."
While the Walk Smart campaign has shown promise in the Ocean City area, the general format of the town is relatively conducive to pedestrian incidents resulting in severe injury. With a speed limit of 40 mph and Coastal Highway being a common road to cross, pedestrians are placed in harm's way more often than in quiet, off-highway communities. This is not to say that incidents involving pedestrians are the fault of drivers. According to the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration, 70 percent of accidents of this nature across the State of Maryland occurred with the pedestrian at fault, 73 percent occurred after dark and 40 percent occurred when the pedestrian was alcohol-impaired. For a community centered on vacationers and nightlife, these factors come into play.
Celeste, a visitor to Ocean City, offered a suggestion to help pedestrians avoid the perils of traffic.
"I think they could build archways, to help people cross the street more safely," she said.
But Ocean City is not the only resort town that has had pedestrian safety issues in the past and present.
For Rehoboth Beach, Chief Keith Banks stated that a lower speed limit, coupled with awareness projects similar to Ocean City's Walk Smart, have made for a safer community where pedestrian incidents are less likely.
"We generally have a very low number of pedestrian-related incidents," Banks said. "For a lot of reasons, but we have a speed limit of 25 mph, and we try to keep that enforced. The downtown area can become congested, since we have thousands of visitors every year, but mostly we are making sure people are using the sidewalks and not jay-walking, as well as encouraging education with the Office of Highway Safety."
In 2014, the Delaware Department of Transportation in collaboration with the Office of Highway Safety began their own Walk Smart campaign, which Rehoboth Beach was an initial participant in.
Rehoboth Beach has still been the site of several pedestrian and cyclist-related incidents in recent memory.
In June, a 3-year-old child suffered injuries after being struck by a vehicle in Rehoboth Beach. The driver, Donna G. Summy, 62, was deemed at fault. In June 2015, Ukrainian woman Nadiia Misa, 19, was struck by a vehicle while cycling in Rehoboth Beach, and later died as a result of her injuries.
Courtney, a cyclist in Ocean City, believes that the roads are not necessarily perilous by nature.
"I feel pretty safe," she said. "If you go with the traffic and watch the signals, I think it's pretty safe."
For coastal towns in both Maryland and Delaware, the concern of cyclist safety continues to be an ongoing struggle. On the evening of June 29, Anastasia Ciolpan, a J-1 Visa student from Moldova was struck by an SUV while cycling on Kent Avenue in Bethany Beach, and later died from her injuries. Ciolpan did not have a helmet or a bicycle light at the time of the incident, but police noted she did have all proper reflectors on her bicycle.
"This is the second incident we've had of a J-1 Visa Student being struck by a vehicle in the past month," Bethany Beach Fire Company Chief Brian Martin said. "Often, it's their only mode of transportation, and I think it's really important that we get the word out, that they're out at all hours of the night and day, and that people need to look out for them."
While the Town of Ocean City reports a drop in pedestrian incidents in the past few years, cyclist collisions have remained the same. On July 5, the Department of Transportation awarded an $800 grant to the Ocean City Police Department for the purchase of 60 bike lights. Rather than issue citations to violators, citizens found riding without a light would be given a bike light.
Banks echoed that promotion of bicycle safety was now of peak importance.
"My officers have been really enforcing bicycle ordinances, making sure that they're not riding too fast, especially on the boardwalk, as well as having the proper lights, reflectors and safety gear," Banks said. "And we're working together, between the officers, pedestrians and cyclists."
In all Waters summarized the situation as part enforcement, and part simple awareness.
"People come to Ocean City to have a good time and enjoy their vacation," Waters said. "And we want them to stay safe, and the most important thing is for them to stay aware of their surroundings."