FCPD at scene of pedestrian fatality, December 29, 2018. Photo courtesy of Fox5DC.
Recent media reports have highlighted a rise in traffic fatalities in some parts of the larger metropolitan DC region. The majority of these fatalities involved pedestrians.
Fairfax County, the District, and Alexandria all saw upticks in deaths on the roads between 2017 and this year. Arlington, Loudoun, and Montgomery counties fortunately had fewer fatalities in 2018.
Fairfax County led Virginia with 45 deaths this year, an increase from 37 in 2017 (two more pedestrians have been killed since the news article linked above, which accounts for the different figures). According to preliminary VDOT reporting found using its interactive public report tool, no Fairfax County bicyclists died in traffic accidents but there were at least 52 reported crashes that resulted in 58 injuries
In contrast, the District had 34 traffic deaths in 2018, of which three were cyclists, fifteen were pedestrians, eight were motorcyclists, and one was a scooter rider.
The reporting notes that, while efforts to make car travel safer have shown results over the past few decades, addressing unsafe conditions for cyclists and pedestrians is still inadequate and physical improvements will take time to build and show results.
With more people on our streets and roads, the most pressing need is for everyone to be careful and to follow traffic rules.
FABB continues to advocate for improvements across the board in education, enforcement, encouragement, engineering, and evaluation and planning to ensure safe roads for all users and better multimodal transportation options. Please join us in this important work.
