Woman and baby crossing the street struck by driver near Ballston

A driver struck a mother pushing her baby in a stroller in Ballston yesterday morning, police and a witness say.

The crash happened around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at the intersection of N. Park Drive and N. Carlin Springs Road.

The driver remained on scene while the baby was taken via ambulance to a local hospital “for injuries considered non-life threatening,” said Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage.

“The investigation determined the pedestrian, who was pushing a child in a stroller, was crossing the street when a motorist turned and struck the stroller,” said Savage.

The driver was cited for “failure to yield the right of way,” she added.

In a Twitter thread, resident Mark Blacknell said he was on his way to chaperone a field trip for one of his kids when he saw the aftermath of the crash.

“When I saw that people in cars were still driving within inches of this mother on the street, impatient to get on their way, I stepped in to direct some traffic to down a side street, away from her,” he said. “I wasn’t the first to do that. A much older woman had, but drivers were simply rolling at her until she got out of the way. Not with me.”

He left after police arrived and onlookers helped the mother onto the sidewalk but said “her cries, those I won’t forget for a long long time.”

He told ARLnow that yesterday afternoon he saw signs of an investigation, including spray paint marks on the road where the stroller stopped. The front grill emblem from the Toyota that hit them was still in the street.

In his series of tweets, he called on Arlington County Board members to put more pressure on County Manager Mark Schwartz to prioritize pedestrian safety.

“The fix, thus far? Two little yellow signs that say ‘Cross traffic does not stop,'” he wrote. “If a mother cannot push her baby across the street in safety, all of the arts funding, tourism development, stormwater mitigation and that the rest of that is meaningless.”

“This particular intersection isn’t Arlington’s first or last transportation safety challenge,” he said. “But it’s pretty emblematic of where we are.”

The second year of Vision Zero — Arlington County’s plan to to reach its goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030 — is coming to a close this month. As a result, the county is asking for anonymous feedback on how Vision Zero is changing transportation safety.

Over the last two years, the county has analyzed data, installed quick safety treatments, embarked on pilots and investigated serious crashes.

“We track and investigate all critical (fatal or severe) crashes throughout the year — which lead to immediate engineering response where possible,” Arlington County says.

The county has also published three progress reports, the most recent of which reports receiving “ongoing community requests” to look at N. Carlin Springs Road.

The site of yesterday’s crash is a “hotspot,”or an intersection that experiences disproportionate crashes over a five-year period. Per a data dashboard, the site has seen two crashes with severe, visible injuries and several resulting only in property damage of $1,500 or more.

It is also one of 38 hotspots in an “equity emphasis area,” defined as an area where at least 50% of households have a median income below $50,000 or people of color comprise at least 38.5% of the population.

These designations could tee it up to be identified and prioritized for “quick-build safety projects” — those that do not take a lot of time or money to complete.

The county says it is already looking at this intersection because of another hotspot for pedestrian-involved crashes nearby: the intersection of N. Carlin Springs Road and N. Glebe Road.

A treacherous stretch a few blocks down the road has received county attention in the past.

Two years ago, N. Carlin Springs Road and N. Edison Street received a Rapid Flashing Beacon crossing and a widened median to slow down cars and give pedestrians a refuge area.

The county shortened crossings and made them more visible, moved bus stops and improved ramps, signage and pavement markings where N. Carlin Springs Road intersects with N. Wakefield and N. Edison streets.