Senate District 15 covers covers western and southern Kent County to the Maryland border, including Hartly, Felton and Harrington. (If you are not 100% sure whether you live in Senate District 15, you can search here using your address.) If you live in this district your choice on November 3 to represent you in the Delaware Senate is between Nisha Lodhavia and Emily Thompson. Using a multiple choice format, we asked these two candidates to share their views on five statements related to traffic safety in Delaware. Ms. Lodhavia did not respond but Ms. Thompson’s answers are here:
1) I voted for, or agree with, the Truth in E-Bike Marketing Act (HS 1 for HB 439), which prohibits commercial sellers from advertising high-speed electric motorcycles using terms like “electric bicycle” or “e-bike” and requires clear written disclosures regarding a vehicle’s legal classification, power, and licensing requirements.
Thompson: Agree
2) I voted for, or support, the recently passed HB 363, which allowed the default speed limit on streets in residential districts to be lowered to 20 mph.
Thompson: Agree
3) Single-vehicle run-off-the-road crashes account for over a third of Delaware’s fatal crashes. To address this, I would support legislation complementing HB 363 that lowers the default speed limit on low-volume rural roads (e.g. “tar and chip” roads) below the current 50 mph threshold.
Thompson: Neither Agree or Disagree
4) To further reduce traffic crashes on rural roadways, I support making Delaware’s rural road network more “self-explaining” using road surfaces and roadside design that convey a continuous visual message to drivers, providing more effective guidance than intermittent signage alone.
Thompson: Disagree
5) To reduce crashes at intersections, I support the use of single-lane urban roundabouts and engineering those roundabouts to be slow speed junctions, keeping vehicle speeds under 20 mph at all potential collision points.
Thompson: Disagree
6) Is there anything else about your record as an elected official, your experience or your views that you think is relevant to improving traffic safety in Delaware for the people you wish to represent in the 154th General Assembly?
