A 13-year-old was hospitalized after being struck by a vehicle in Gaithersburg, according to law enforcement.
Details on the exact location and circumstances of the Gaithersburg crash remain limited, but WUSA9 reports the teen was hospitalized after being struck by a vehicle. It is the latest in a series of pedestrian incidents Hoodline has tracked in the city, following a pedestrian critically hurt near I-270 in late September and a crash that sent a pedestrian to the hospital on Route 355 earlier that same month.
An adult woman was fatally struck by a vehicle on Randolph Road in nearby Colesville. An off-duty police officer discovered the scene around 7:04 a.m., with the driver remaining cooperative and showing no signs of impairment, the station's report notes.
A County-Wide Pattern of Pedestrian Deaths
An 83-year-old man died Saturday, October 10, after being struck by a pickup truck Friday morning, October 9, at a Rockville gas station in the 500 block of Hungerford Road, as he walked across the parking lot toward his own car, according to Rockville Patch. The case underscored that non-motorist deaths in the county are not confined to major intersections but can happen in commercial lots and access roads as well.
Maryland law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, as described in Maryland Transportation Code § 21-502.
Maryland's legal landscape also complicates recovery for crash victims. The state is one of only five U.S. jurisdictions that enforces pure contributory negligence, meaning an injured pedestrian found even 1% at fault in a collision can be legally barred from recovering any financial damages from a driver, according to Stein Sperling.
County Pedestrian Safety Funding Has Increased
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich announced in August that funding for the county's Pedestrian Safety Program had grown by 188%, rising from $1.78 million in fiscal year 2018 to $5.12 million in fiscal year 2027, per a county bulletin distributed through GovDelivery. The increase reflects a larger budget for pedestrian safety.
Montgomery County has a Vision Zero traffic safety policy.
Vehicle speed is an important factor in pedestrian safety. That is why county traffic-calming efforts focus on reducing vehicle speeds rather than relying solely on signage or crosswalk markings.
Pedestrians of Different Ages Have Been Affected
The incidents involved pedestrians of different ages, including a 13-year-old, an adult woman and an 83-year-old man.
The cluster of incidents also follows a separate, unrelated tragedy in upper Montgomery County in August, when a 13-year-old boy driving a stolen Kia crashed into another vehicle at Clopper Road and Great Seneca Highway in Germantown, killing a 58-year-old driver and injuring seven minors between the ages of 12 and 15, as reported by NBC4 Washington. That early morning crash triggered an extensive investigation by county police.
