On the Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets map, there are many dots representing crashes and deaths in the Mount Vernon area, mostly along Richmond Highway. There are a few on the GW Parkway as well. Once again, this reveals Richmond Highway as a dangerous corridor, which is nothing new in the traffic analysis world.

On one level, there is the Virginia Department of Transportation's efforts redesigning intersections and implementing new crosswalk patterns, and on another level, there’s Mike Doyle, a member of the Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets, who thinks this area deserves more attention. 

“It’s a classic 1960s type of road,” he said, pointing out the limited safe crossing places and the high speeds of the traffic. “There’s lots of things that could be done,” he added. In his view, VDOT and FCDOT should do more.

Another phase of the Fairfax County Police Department’s Road Shark program is set to begin in August. 

 

The Families for Safe Streets maintains a ‘near-miss’ map and the dots are sites of near-miss events where someone could have gotten killed. For example, there’s a near-miss dot on Sherwood Hall Lane where the pedestrian reported an incident occurred on June 5 between 12-3 pm. "Yesterday I was coming home from Costco and was coming out of the WalMart parking lot driving across Route 1. I had a green light and almost got side swiped from someone turning right at a high rate of speed to my right. That turn lane is curved so there is no reason to slow down. There is also a crosswalk there which is extremely dangerous for pedestrians. My husband came through there a little later and almost had the same thing happen to him. I am very hopeful that this problem will be fixed with the EMBARK process on the corridor," the person reported.

A block north, there was another close call back in March. It was another issue where there was speeding and a person in the crosswalk. "We need speed cameras, better light in some streets on Richmond Hwy, better crosswalks, speed bumps.etc,etc," they wrote. There are similar dots all up and down the highway.

Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets is an all-volunteer group battling against pedestrian and cyclist fatalities and injuries caused by motor vehicle drivers. Doyle is the president and the representative for Alexandria along with Norman S. Lisy, while Michelle Brydges is the rep in Arlington, and Sonya Breehey in Fairfax. Lisy is also the treasurer and Brian Shankman is the vice president. They consider themselves “the squeaky wheel” with the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets is an all-volunteer organization and the instances are reported voluntarily, so many of the near-miss opportunities could go unreported. FSS is moving forward nonetheless, meeting regularly with Supervisors Dan Storck (D-Mount Vernon) and Rodney Lusk (D-Franconia).

Doyle is aware of EMBARK Richmond Highway project for the future promoted by Supervisor Storck. The development project  includes starting with a Bus Rapid Transit line going down the center of Richmond Highway, but that is still years away. Short-term fixes could be done on a limited budget, FSS says, and those fixes could include speed cameras and lighting, but these start with awareness of the issue and that's where the group comes in.

They have four graduate students working on a project investigating some of the collisions so the data from this project could be used as a foundation for further funding some of these fixes, but that remains to be seen.

They have picked out some hot-spots where attention is needed, and it starts with Buckman Road, Radford Avenue, Boswell Avenue and Brevard Court off Richmond Highway, right near New Hope Housing and the Gerry Hyland Government Center. That seems to be a stretch where there is a lot of residential sections where people might try to cross this busy road. There are signalized crossings all through this area, but if someone is crossing 200 yards up the street, many go for the dash across when it seems feasible rather than walking to a crosswalk.

Supervisor Dan Storck (D-Mount Vernon) has been involved with the safety on Richmond Highway, including work with Street Smart, the Road Shark Campaign and the speed limit. 

"I look forward to continuing to work with community groups like Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets on this issue. Our office is committed to helping spread awareness of their Near Miss Dashboard and to looking at adding speed cameras to the highway during the widening and BRT construction," Storck said.

Police Involvement

The police are out there writing tickets to slow down the traffic in a program called Road Shark. In June, FCPD’s Road Shark campaign wrapped up its third wave issuing over 8,500 citations and warnings, with over 200 citations for reckless driving. Road Shark is a strategic initiative focused on enhancing visibility, enforcement and educational activities to combat aggressive driving, minimize traffic incidents, and foster positive changes in driving behavior, the FCPD description read. Wave four of Road Shark will begin on Aug. 5.