Driving is riskier than ever, but why? Exploring what’s happening on the roadways, and what’s being done to improve safety for drivers, cyclists, & pedestrians.
If you think being on the road is more dangerous than ever, you’re right.
Since 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year, road fatalities have increased in the region that includes the City of Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico. According to data from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), one hundred people died in 2020, and ninety-nine died in 2021, compared with seventy-five deaths in 2019.
Those increases are in line with what happened statewide and nationally. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2020 had the highest national fatality rate since 2007, with 38,824 people dying in the U.S. as a result of car crashes. While 2021 data is incomplete, fatalities through September 2021 showed a 12 percent increase over the same time period in 2020.
In 2020, total miles driven decreased by 11 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but fatal crashes nationally increased by 6.8 percent. There were also drops in police-reported crashes and injuries during this time. Fatalities involving cyclists were up 9.2 percent – their highest level since 1987 – and pedestrian fatalities increased 3.9 percent. That’s the highest number since 1989.
In Virginia in 2020, Virginia Highway Safety reported 847 fatalities statewide, compared with 827 in 2019, an increase of 2.4 percent. Of those, 114 were pedestrians and eight were cyclists.
In 45 percent of fatal crashes, drivers engaged in risky behaviors, including speeding, alcohol impairment, or not wearing a seat belt. That reflects the findings of a survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, part of the American Automobile Association. Released in February 2022, the survey showed that while many of us drove less in 2020, many of those who continued to get behind the wheel employed the riskiest behaviors: speeding, reading text messages while driving, running red lights on purpose, and changing lanes aggressively.
“Some drivers embraced really, really dangerous and life-threatening things on the roadway,” says Morgan Dean, AAA Mid-Atlantic manager of public and government affairs. “That’s why fatalities were up.”
Why Is It Happening?
Michael Sawyer, a transportation engineer with the City of Richmond, points to a number of factors leading to increases in fatalities. “When you don’t have congestion – as we didn’t have during the pandemic – you have higher speeds,” he says. “Exponentially, the harm to the person grows with increased speed. You double your chances of fatality for every ten miles you go over thirty-five miles per hour. People don’t understand the implications of speed.”
Speed is just one factor in crashes. Vehicle size is also an issue. Over the past forty years, consumers have increasingly turned to SUVs and pickup trucks for their primary vehicles, instead of sedans. According to market research firm IHS Markit, more new SUVs were purchased in 2015 than sedans for the first time ever. In 2019, the last year of normal sales – meaning pre-pandemic – consumers purchased twice as many SUVs as sedans. In addition to being higher off the ground, which improves drivers’ long-range visibility, but hinders the view of anything or anyone directly in front of or behind a car, larger vehicles are also heavier. A typical sedan might be three thousand pounds, compared with five thousand pounds for an SUV and ten thousand pounds for a large pickup. Crashes involving those vehicles are serious.
“You can’t beat speed and mass,” Sawyer says.
Speed and size, when combined with distracted driving (not having eyes on the road for any reason) showed a jump of 26.5 percent in fatalities according to 2020 Virginia statistics.
Janet Brooking is executive director of DRIVE SMART Virginia, a nonprofit created in 1995 that aims to raise awareness of road safety through education campaigns.
“The number one thing for people to understand is that we all have a personal responsibility to keep ourselves and others safe on the roadway,” says Brooking.
When the organization was founded, Brooking says its primary focus was to encourage wearing of seat belts. “Within the first couple of years, board members said, ‘We’re concerned about phones in cars,’” she says.
DRIVE SMART advocated for the Virginia law that took effect in January 2021 prohibiting drivers from holding a phone or other communications device while behind the wheel. “There are so many people working in concert to improve the safety of our roadways,” she says. “It takes all of us to come together to move the needle.”
Let’s Look at the Road
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has a Strategic Highway Safety Plan, updated every five years, designed to foster a statewide transportation network that allows everyone to travel safely to where they need to be. VDOT works with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Virginia Department of Health, the Virginia Department of Education, the Virginia State Police, and others to coordinate efforts and identify where action is needed.
“We’re required by [federal] legislation to be partners,” says Stephen Read, highway safety planning manager in the VDOT Traffic Engineering Division. “Our strategic plan has helped us get out of our silos and do more cooperation.”
Marshall Herman, VDOT’s acting communications director, notes that the collaboration is especially useful in public outreach. In addition to three or more large messaging campaigns every year, VDOT will work with other agencies on social media thunder claps – posts that are scheduled to be released by VDOT and agency partners in ripples – to attract attention.
“We use [thunder claps] to highlight recent data,” Herman says. “We can turn up the volume on certain messages.”
VDOT focuses on the four commonly used transportation Es – education, enforcement, engineering, and emergency response and services – while adding one more: everyone.
“We are trying to change the traffic safety culture,” Read says. “It takes a lot of cognitive ability to drive and, frankly, to walk and bike, too. The huge message is we are not good multitaskers. We’ve become so familiar in our driving, particularly on local routes, we think we can zone out. That’s not always the case, because conditions are always changing. Put your phone down, hands on the wheel, eyes forward, and buckle up.”
In 1969, the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission was formed to provide a way for local governments to collaborate on shared issues. Now known as PlanRVA, the commission includes the Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RRTPO), which brings together representatives from the City of Richmond, nearby counties (Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan), the town of Ashland, GRTC Transit Authority, the Capital Region Airport Commission, and the Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Because roads don’t stop at county or city lines, transportation is at the top of the shared interest list, says RRTPO Director Chet Parsons.
“We want to make connections across boundaries – to look at how decisions in the city could affect Hanover, or how [traffic] patterns along I-64 in New Kent might affect Goochland,” Parsons says. “We want to provide opportunities for different engineering departments to get together to talk about the major issues.”
In 2004, PlanRVA spearheaded the Richmond Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. An update to the plan – called BikePedRVA 2045 – is almost complete. The goal, according to the PlanRVA website, is to create a network supported by local projects for shared-use paths, bike lanes, sidewalks, neighborhood connectors, bikeable streets, and complete street elements that together create more accessible systems for people walking, rolling, scooting, cycling, or taking transit.
Phil Riggan is a transportation planner with PlanRVA. He acknowledges that we live in an auto-centric society. “The idea is to retroactively go back and work with localities to make a safer and well-rounded environment so all users can be welcomed and safe.”
Speed is a factor, no matter the setting, Riggan says. “We are trying to slow down cars in areas by schools and congested areas, like business and residential developments,” he says. “It’s not the same solution in each area.”
Taking to the Streets
Bike Walk RVA, a program of Sports Backers, was founded in 2013 with a mission to encourage people to embrace an active lifestyle. “It’s more reasonable to ask people to incorporate [activity] in their daily lives, outside of exercise and competing,” says Brantley Tyndall, Bike Walk RVA’s program director. “The way to do that is to eliminate the safety barrier.”
In 2013, program staff tallied approximately thirty-four miles of designated bicycle lanes in the city. By 2016, that number had tripled to more than one hundred miles, not including sidewalks. Tyndall points to the fall 2014 adoption of a “complete streets” policy within the City of Richmond as an important step.
“Complete streets is a design ideology that believes streets should work for everyone, whether you’re in a wheelchair, walking across a street, or driving to and parking at a destination,” he says. “It’s a goal that streets should serve people beyond moving everyone just in their metal boxes.”
Bike Walk RVA has also partnered with VDOT and surrounding localities on the development of the Fall Line Trail, a forty-three mile paved pathway that will run from Ashland to Petersburg. Crossing the Chickahominy, James, and Appomattox rivers, users will be able to travel safely on foot and on bicycle to jobs, schools, and recreation.
“It’s a transformative backbone of a biking and walking network,” Tyndall says. “We think the Fall Line will be all the best parts of the Virginia Capital Trail, plus the benefits of going through highly populated places and taking people to important destinations.”
The trail’s estimated cost of $250 million is nearly in place, thanks to funding from the General Assembly over the last several budget cycles and $104 million dedicated by the Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA), a taxing district that can fund projects regionally. “When you add that [CVTA allocation] to other government sources, it brings the trail to almost fully funded,” Tyndall says. Groundbreaking was held for the trail in October 2020; it is estimated to be complete by 2028.
In May and September every year, Bike Walk RVA partners with the Richmond City Health District to assess pedestrian and bicycling activity across Richmond streets and trails. Volunteers stationed at specific locations actually count the pedestrians and cyclists they see. This information can demonstrate the usefulness of protected bike infrastructure and sidewalk systems, says Jada Jolley, a public health associate on the Population Health Team for the health district.
“[Street safety] is a public health issue because we know that in Richmond and nationally, areas with a higher population of people living at or below the poverty line are less likely to have access to safe sidewalks and bike infrastructure,” Jolley says. “Black and brown people carry an unequal burden of pedestrian danger.”
Jolley says the problem of safety is one that everyone shares. People often want to find fault, she says – with pedestrians, cyclists, or drivers – depending on who’s pointing the finger. But that doesn’t solve the problem. There are risky behaviors all around, she says, adding that safety should become second-nature. “It’s as simple as being more diligent on the road and being aware of [your] surroundings.”
What’s Happening Locally
In 2017, the City of Richmond made a commitment to join the Vision Zero initiative, a global strategy with a simple endpoint: zero traffic fatalities and severe injuries. Launched in the 1990s in Sweden, the effort has spread across the globe, challenging the long-held belief that traffic accidents – and the deaths that result from them – are inevitable. Vision Zero takes a systematic approach, prioritizing safety in design and regarding fatalities and injuries on and around roadways as a public health issue that can and should be fought through a multi-pronged approach.
By signing on to Vision Zero goals, Richmond is centering safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers like never before, says Sawyer, transportation engineer and the Vision Zero coordinator.
“Because Vision Zero is in our master plan, it’s in every transportation project that we do,” Sawyer says. “We are changing our built environment to shift the safety culture. If the culture doesn’t come along with it – social norms, habits, behaviors, beliefs – everything we do as engineers doesn’t matter.”
The city’s goal is to have zero traffic-related deaths by 2030, Sawyer says, which is going to require that everyone adjust their attitude. “I can put up a lot of Stop for Pedestrian signs and spend money for speed tables and bike infrastructure, but it’s a lot simpler if people shift their cultural values and norms so we are actually kind to [other] people,” he says. “You go to New England, and you can be standing on a corner, and drivers will stop. Why can’t we, as a mid-Atlantic city, do the same thing?”
Sawyer notes that Richmond created a Safe and Healthy Streets Commission in 1966, one of the first in the nation. Today, commission members come from the city transportation department, public schools, police, and the public, and are charged with reviewing the safety of the city’s transportation network and making recommendations for improvement. This group has won a Governor’s Award for its collaborative approach, but that’s not the point, Sawyer, says. “It’s about growing the credibility of the program,” he says. “We want a credible program so it gets resources to impact the city.”
And the resources need to be deployed thoughtfully. Sawyer notes that many changes – adding protected bicycle lanes or speed tables – happen alongside resurfacing, which minimizes their cost. “A stand-alone speed table can cost $15,000 to $20,000, but if we do that within resurfacing, the cost drops to $4,000-$5,000,” Sawyer says. “That gives us an ability to stretch those dollars.”
When it comes to collaboration, Sawyer points to good relationships with the surrounding counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico while noting there are key differences among the localities. “The suburban model is a monoculture land use that requires transportation to get what you need,” he says. “It’s about accessibility. Are these land uses accessible to me if I walk, bike, or take public transit? You need design that puts the auto in its place, so that all the other modes are given priority.”
In the Counties
Terrell Hughes, director of public works in Henrico County, agrees that different areas require different approaches. “As the county developed, there was an intent to not be the city,” he says. “As soon as you hit the [Henrico] county line, sidewalks and street lights disappear.”
But change is happening. Hughes says two-thirds of more than one hundred ongoing Henrico capital projects relate to sidewalk retrofits and connectors. “It’s a huge focus for us,” he says. “We’re trying to improve our pedestrian safety.”
In 2021, Henrico added more than 10 miles of bike lanes and lowered the speed limits on thirty-six roads; more lanes and speed reductions will follow. Historically, Hughes notes, speed limits were set to the highest speed a car could travel on the road. “When you have cars traveling at those speeds, the outcomes aren’t very good for pedestrians,” he says. “We’re starting to think more holistically.”
While Henrico hasn’t officially adopted Vision Zero as a goal, Hughes says the county is implementing many structural changes that lead to greater road safety. The county’s first roundabout, which became operational in fall 2021 at Woodman and Greenwood roads, north of I-295, has already led to an eighty percent decrease in collisions at the intersection. “When we have crashes, we try to figure out if there’s an infrastructure issue, if there’s something we can do to help cars slow down and reduce intersection conflicts,” he says.
Elsewhere, the county is experimenting with reducing lane width, installing speed cushions, and adding high-visibility crosswalks; Church Road, between Pump and Lauderdale, was revamped in 2020. “Even if you lower the speed limit, the roads lend themselves to driving faster,” he says. “Enforcement is part of the answer, but not the full answer.”
Hughes notes the county has also restructured its neighborhood traffic management program, which levied an additional $200 fine in neighborhoods with chronic speeding. Now, the first step is to install temporary traffic calming measures, like plastic speed cushions. “If we see positive outcomes toward the speeds, then we will introduce a permanent solution,” he says, noting that the public works department works closely with the fire and police departments when changing the streetscape. “We want to make sure we’re not impeding emergency responses,” he says.
As in Henrico, Hanover County is approaching transportation needs using a multi-pronged approach but not officially under the Vision Zero framework. “Safety is ever-present in what we do,” says Joe Vidunas, traffic engineer in the Department of Public Works.
In the past five years, two roundabouts have been installed at busy intersections – Studley and Rural Point roads, and Creighton and Cold Harbor roads. Both locations have seen “dramatic improvement,” Vidunas says, noting that the Creighton/Cold Harbor roundabout has had no reported collisions since it opened in July 2020. In the three years prior to the opening of the Studley/Rural Point roundabout, the intersection had thirteen crashes; in the two years after the roundabout was installed, there were three crashes – a decrease of eighty-five percent. “Roundabouts are well-known for crash reduction, but congestion is also a component,” he adds. “We were really excited with those results; they didn’t surprise us, but they affirmed what we thought would be the case.”
Out of the roughly $10 million that annually comes to Hanover from the CVTA, the county has designated $3.5 million per year for rural safety and paving projects that will widen shoulders on narrow roads, where possible, and smooth rough roadways. “The average [road] widening project costs $10 million to $12 million per mile,” Vidunas notes. Currently, the county is working on rural paving projects that would encompass three to four miles. “These are fairly quick to do, once we get them off the ground,” he adds.
Because VDOT has responsibility for many of Hanover’s roads, the county works closely with the state to identify needs and seeks funding through VDOT as well. Smart Scale, a VDOT program established in 2015, provides funding for transportation projects on a competitive basis – localities have to demonstrate how projects will improve safety and reduce congestion, among other considerations. Several Hanover projects have been funded in the Smart Scale process. “We’re pretty proud [of that],” Vidunas says.
Chesterfield County hasn’t officially adopted Vision Zero, but does participate in the regional working group, says Barbara Smith, a program manager in the Department of Transportation. Smith says funding for the department is on the rise, with $2 million allocated for fiscal year 2022 and $3 million in the proposed FY2023 budget.
“We’re focusing on serving areas with higher-density and lower-income [residents], providing connections to parks, schools, and libraries,” she says. “We consider roadway speed and volume alongside pedestrian activity – that would be our higher priority.”
Smith says the money allocated by the county allows for a more rapid response than state or federal dollars because those processes simply involve more steps. A new sidewalk on Irongate Drive, a trail project connecting North Courthouse Library with North Queensway Road, and a crosswalk at the intersection of Buford and Choctaw roads are examples of recent changes the county undertook with its own funding, she notes, adding that the department routinely hears from the public about what’s needed.
“We have a giant long list of requests from citizens for improvements,” she says. “We want to deliver things quickly – that’s first and foremost. If we have available right-of-way, that’s a big advantage in getting a project done quickly.”
Smith notes the challenges the county faces in certain, high-impact areas. “We have a high concentration of pedestrian crashes on Hull Street, Route 60 and Route 1,” she notes. “Those are priorities, but they are more expensive and are maintained by the state; working with the state takes longer.”
One quick response involves new pole-mounted speed display signs that show drivers how fast they are actually traveling. Additionally, Chesterfield Police has a mobile speed display trailer that can be easily moved to troublesome areas. Those approaches show drivers their speed “in real time,” Smith says, adding that such signs seem to be well-received.
In addition to paying attention to speed, Smith says, everyone needs to pay attention – period. “When I was learning how to drive, I feel like it was all about defensive driving,” she says. “I don’t think people anticipate enough. When you’re driving in a place where you’ve seen people walking, expect people to be walking.”
Cars, Kids, Families, and Staying Safe
AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Morgan Dean says reminders about safe practices and cars are at the core of what AAA tries to do to keep everyone safer, whether they’re driving, being driven, walking, biking, or parking.
In 2021, the organization hosted two public events related to child safety and cars: one focused on safety seats, because kids grew during the pandemic when they weren’t riding in cars much; and the other focused on car safety in hot weather because there were deaths in summer 2021 when kids went to play in cars outside, became trapped, and their working parents inside the home didn’t realize what had happened.
In the recent General Assembly session, AAA supported a bill that would have added a required course for teen drivers to take alongside their parents. The bill was changed to merely recommend the course, instead of requiring it. “We appreciate [the class] is another opportunity for a parent and teen to work on driving training,” Dean says, noting that he’s now working with his own teen driver and finding the balance between caution and encouragement.
“As a parent, you have to be careful not to be a distractor,” Dean says. “They are still learning the skills, so it’s important to put them in situations with a safety net … but also assess whether they’re ready for a bigger challenge.”
Jerry Van Harris coordinates GR-ACY – Get Real About Choices & Consequences for You – a three-week VCU program designed to show people the outcomes of risky driving. Offered monthly, the $90 course brings participants to the hospital to see possible outcomes of car crashes – everything from emergency room treatment to rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury to the morgue.
“We try to make [everybody] aware of the possible outcomes of speeding and not using safety restraints,” Harris says. “We want to focus on the outcomes of reckless behavior. You have to make it up close and personal [so people see] how choices lead to consequences.”
Ultimately, says engineer and Vision Zero coordinator Sawyer, there are twenty times a week in the city of Richmond when a person doesn’t reach their destination. “Week in, week out, since 2014,” he says. “We know people make mistakes, but we don’t want them to end up in the hospital with life-changing injuries – or in the morgue. These things are preventable, and we can do something about it.”
