This article was updated 3 p.m. Tuesday with additional information.
A pedestrian is facing life-threatening injuries after being struck by a car on East Gude Drive at Taft Street in Rockville, according to Montgomery County police.
MCPD officers, Rockville City Police and County Fire Rescue service officials responded to the incident at 5.38 pm. Monday at the intersection of East Gude Drive and Taft Street.
The driver remained on scene and the victim was taken to an area-hospital where he remains in critical condition, according to the police.
Through their investigation, detectives from the MCPD’s Collision Reconstruction Unit found the pedestrian, a 40-year-old man, was crossing from north to south in the 1600 block of E. Gude Dr., when he was struck by an eastbound blue 2017 Toyota Corolla.
“People should be able to walk and bike places without fear that a driver will hit and seriously injure them, and people should be able to drive places without fear that they will hit and seriously injure a pedestrian or bicyclist,” Miriam Schoenbaum, a board member of the Action Committee for Transit said in response to the incident.
“While we don’t know the specific circumstances of the crash, we do know that this intersection of E. Gude Drive and Taft Court is designed to be deadly to people walking, bicycling, or going to or from the bus,” Schoenbaum said.
Schoenbaum said multiple incidents of pedestrian collisions have occurred at this intersection.
“Most recently, on February 7, 2022, around 8:36 am, when (according to the police report), a driver who was turning left hit and seriously injured a pedestrian who was crossing in the crosswalk with no improper actions,” she said in her statement to Bethesda Beat.
In Maryland, there have been 420 crashes and 445 fatalities as of November 2022, according to data from the state’s Department of Transportation. Pedestrians were involved in 21.8% of the total fatalities, while other pedestrian types (wheelchairs, skateboards, workers), made up around 1.1% of total fatalities.
On Nov. 8, Ana Ortiz, 70 and Miguel Ortiz, 65 of Gaithersburg were fatally struck while crossing School Drive in Gaithersburg while making their way to Fields Road Elementary School to vote, police said.
A predictive safety analysis report released July 2022 by the Montgomery Planning Board, found that there were over 59,000 collisions in Montgomery County between 2015 to 2019. These incidents resulted in over 1,200 severe injuries and nearly 150 fatalities.