DC traffic-related deaths down substantially in 2025, officials say

Traffic deaths and serious accidents in D C are substantially down compared to this time a year ago according to District personnel City leaders noted they are convinced their traffic safety messages are getting through to drivers and people behind the wheel are paying attention Nine people have died and that includes drivers passengers and pedestrians in bus crashes in D C through the end of June that compares to for the same period a year ago Two people have died on D C roads in the month of July bringing the yearly total so far to still well behind s to date Charlie Willson runs D C s Vision Zero initiative which has a goal of reducing traffic deaths to zero Each of those fatalities is a life lost and a family tragically broken up But it does represent an improvement because at this time at midpoint last year in we were at fatalities he commented In calendar year we re seeing a decrease in both major injuries and fatalities If trends continue will be the fourth consecutive year we ve seen a decrease in major injuries to folks traveling on our roadways Willson noted he believes after seeing traffic deaths soar nationally and locally after the COVID- pandemic there s now less reckless driving and people are getting the message about drunken driving and texting while driving There s also more enforcement I would attribute certain of the success to the effects and effectiveness of the automated camera safety plan he reported People s driving behavior is absolutely a huge factor in traffic safety but it s also showing us the effects of all of the different cumulative safety interventions that we ve been doing Meanwhile according to a National Safety Council preliminary estimate circulated earlier this year preventable traffic deaths in the U S in reached This represents a slight decrease of less than compared to with only fewer deaths and the Chicago-based safety organization noted the problem on U S roadways continues with little improvement There is still critical work needed to make our roadways safer Mark Chung executive vice president of safety leadership and advocacy at NSC mentioned in a release Without considerable changes promising danger will continue to pose ongoing risks to the millions of Americans who rely on our roads daily We must make new commitments to assistance safer conditions for all road users to ensure everyone makes it home safely The NSC announced in six states and D C experienced increases of or more in motor conveyance fatalities from the previous year Maine was up California indicated an increase of Alaska notched up Oklahoma saw deaths increase by Minnesota s jump was up New Jersey was up and D C saw an increase However states saw decreases of or more Source