Cars still seen speeding on street after DC boy killed in deadly crash
WASHINGTON - Wednesday marks one week since the death of Xavier Luckey, a 6-year-old boy who was hit by a car and killed while trying to cross Livingston Road during a cookout celebrating his sixth birthday. Residents in this Southeast D.C. neighborhood are demanding speed bumps and crosswalks and say the city is moving too slow on efforts to make the road safer.
Balloons and teddy bears still mark the spot where Luckey lost his life. For the past week since his death, cars continue to fly through this neighborhood street.
The speed limit for Livingston Road is 25 miles per hour and only 15 miles per hour when children from the nearby school are present.
The mayor's office has now enlisted the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to collect data on the street and determine what safety measures are needed.
DDOT told FOX 5 that new speed limit and pedestrian crossing signs would be put up over the weekend. We have not seen much of those signs, but strips of tubing have been placed across the road at about every 100 yards or so. FOX 5 spoke with a worker who came by to do some maintenance on them. He was with a private company hired by DDOT.
"The reason why we are just doing a count here is because they never had before, so we just need to see if we need to put in speed bumps and stuff," said the worker.
We used a radar gun Wednesday afternoon and saw some cars traveling nearly twice the speed limit.
There is a housing complex on one side of Livingston Road and a playground and picnic area on the other side. Neighbors who are grieving the loss of the 6-year-old boy do not understand why DDOT needs an entire month to do a study and they do not want to see another child hurt in the meantime.
"There is so much speeding going on you don't know if they are going to get hit or not," said one resident. "You just got to be cautious and keep [your children] on a tight hand. It's terrible because it shouldn't take somebody to die for them to put speed bumps on the street. Thirty days is too long."
Xavier Luckey will be laid to rest Thursday morning. There has already been more than $10,000 raised to help his family with funeral expenses.
So far, no charges have been filed against the driver who fatally struck the 6-year-old boy.
Previous Coverage:
After death of 6-year-old boy, DDOT looking into safety improvements on Livingston Road
Southeast DC residents want crosswalk, speed bumps placed on street where boy was killed
DC community urges city to help slow down drivers after 6-year-old boy fatally struck