Reviewing Traffic fatalities in the District: Data Shows Increase

By D.C. Witness Staff - July 9, 2019
Featured | Homicides | Traffic |

Traffic fatalities in Washington, DC have been rising in the last couple of years despite the mayoral administration’s implementation of an initiative to decrease traffic fatalities in Washington, DC. 

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, there were 23 traffic/pedestrian fatalities in 2016, 28 fatalities in 2017 and 31 fatalities in 2018. As of July 9, D.C. Witness has already logged 11 traffic/pedestrian fatalities in 2019, totaling 93 traffic fatalities in the District since 2016. According to D.C. Witness data, there were 15 traffic fatalities in 2015. 

Police arrested suspects in 21 of the cases. More than half of the 21 cases involved some type of drug impaired driving. PCP, a mind altering drug, was present in six cases, alcohol was present in five cases, PCP and cocaine in one case, and alcohol and fentanyl in one case. Another incident included a Metrobus driver who was talking on the phone while driving through a crosswalk, striking two women in the process.

All of the fatalities occurred in the wake of a traffic initiative — Vision Zero — released by the Mayoral administration in 2015. 

Vision Zero was created as a call to action by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s initiative “Safer People and Safer Streets.” According to the Vision Zero site, DC Mayor Muriel Bower’s administration hopes to reduce the number of traffic fatalities and corresponding injuries in the District to 0 by 2024.

After its initial year, Vision Zero entered its implementation stage in 2016. During that year, the mayor’s office began allocating funds to non-profits and DC agencies as a means to support and create “innovative solutions” to address the District’s traffic fatality problem. 

According to the Vision Zero website, in 2016 the mayoral administration allocated nearly $400,000, in 2017, $600,000 was dispersed. According to the initiative’s site, various organizations, including The George Washington University Hospital and Gearin’ Up Bicycles, applied for and were awarded grants to implement plans to bolster Vision Zero’s initiative.  The District Department of Transportation website states that $555,000 was distributed in grants in 2018.

As of July 1, 2019, a Vision Zero report has not been released for 2018.

While the vast majority of the money was allocated to infrastructure and education for pedestrian and bicycle safety, D.C. Witness data notes that motives behind traffic fatalities that result in arrests are linked to impaired driving.

As stated in the 2016 Vision Zero Progress Report, the 2017 grant awarded to GW hospital was one of the only responses to combat impaired driving. According to the report, GW’s funding went toward replicating a procedure to examine blood in relation to impaired driving.

Meanwhile, the remaining funding went toward infrastructure and pedestrian education.  

In 2018, Vision Zero allocated:

• $150,000 to George Mason University (GMU) in order to teach students how to navigate and balance on a bicycle in a simulated environment.
• $100,000 to the District of Columbia Department of Health (DOH) in order to compile data relating to DC traffic fatalities and injuries.
• $100,000 to the Safe Routes to School National Partnership in order to foster community engagement concerning safe walking, driving and bicycling as well as planning and designing safe infrastructure.
• $80,000 to Gearin’ Up Bicycles in an effort to organize mechanics to provide education, repairs, safety equipment and safety checks.
• $65,000 District of Columbia Office of Planning (OP) in order to study and implement “design interventions” in a high priority location in an effort to address issues including speeding vehicles in busy pedestrian areas.
• $60,000 to the Southwest Business Improvement District in order to “pilot and measure” the effectiveness of safety interventions in a DC neighborhood.

In 2017, Vision Zero allocated: 

• $169,000 to The George Washington University Hospital in order to replicate a procedure to examine blood in relation to “drunk and drugged” driving.
• $160,000 to DC Villages / Capitol Hill Village in order to reduce the number of seniors driving.
• $130,000 to the District of Columbia Office of Risk Management (ORM) in order to implement a driver safety program.
• $80,000 to Gearin’ Up Bicycles in an effort to organize mechanics to provide education, repairs, safety equipment and safety checks.
• $61,000 to the District of Columbia Department of For-Hire Vehicles (DFHV) in order to create compliance checkpoints, among other things, to address dangerous driving specifically regarding vehicles for hire. 

In 2016, Vision Zero allocated: 

• $156,000 to the Department of Public Work in order to install Side Underride Prevention Devices, or metal bumpers that prevent cars from sliding under trucks during an accident, on dump trucks.
• $100,000 to the  Office of Disability Rights in order to “inventory and evaluate bus stop accessibility and sidewalk conditions.”
• $80,000 to the District Department of Transportation in order to create a campaign to spread awareness about large and commercial vehicle blind spots.
• $41,000 to the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in order to install art discouraging street harassment.
• $20,000 to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services in order to provide an ANC liaison tool kit and pedestrian safety training.

This article is the first in a series of articles D.C. Witness will release on traffic policies and initiatives in the District of Columbia. 

Olivia Osborne also contributed to this article.