Washington, D.C. — A deadly collision between two electric scooters near Eastern Market is raising new questions about scooter safety across the District, just as city transportation officials weigh letting rental scooters go faster.
The crash happened Friday at 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE around 6:45 p.m. The Metropolitan Police Department said 50-year-old Talib Shakir, director of the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The woman riding the other scooter was also hospitalized and has since been released. Police said neither rider was wearing a helmet, and the cause of the collision remains under investigation.
A report released earlier this year by the District Department of Transportation counted 25 scooter-rider injury crashes at 10 identified intersections between 2023 and 2025. Five of those crashes happened at K Street and North Capitol Street, the most of any intersection on the list. DDOT also reported 7,150,416 rental scooter trips across the District in 2025.
Shared rental scooters are generally limited to 10 mph today, and riders must be at least 18 years old to rent one. Under a proposal published in September, DDOT would allow rental scooters to travel up to 15 mph on streets while keeping a lower speed on sidewalks. Sidewalk riding is already banned in the Central Business District, and scooter riders are advised to use bike lanes where provided.
Neighbors left flowers taped to the base of a traffic signal pole at the crash site on Monday.