Keep Arlington a walkable and safe community by stopping for pedestrians on the road. Especially as daylight hours start to shorten and visibility is more challenging, make sure you look twice for crossing pedestrians. Learn more about Arlington’s Vision Zero Critical Crash Campaign here.
Within the next year or two, Arlington will be conducting routine resurfacing maintenance on the four corridors, three of which have been recently audited through the Vision Zero High-Injury Network safety audits program. This fall, we are seeking community input to help us identify the needs and opportunities for each corridor. Submit your feedback here before November 12, and share this opportunity with fellow community members:
(Note: these four links all take the person to the same site as the link above – should these take people directly to the corridor subpage?)
When we repave a roadway, engineers investigate options for adjusting the pavement markings to better accommodate multimodal operations. Your experiences will help inform the development of the concept plan, along with other available information, such as plan guidance and crash data. Thank you for helping improve our projects to better meet your needs!
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While the County has seen a major decline in driving and overall crashes during the COVID-19 pandemic, Arlington continues to average the same number of severe or fatal crashes annually.
With the arrival of fall and end-of-year holiday celebrations, there comes shorter daylight hours and higher risks on our road. Halloween and Daylight Savings Time are two of the biggest crash days, so it is all the more important to practice safe driving and be vigilant when on the roads.
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High-injury crashes often involve a few consistent contributing factors:
- Alcohol
- Speeding
- Not wearing a seatbelt
- Pedestrians
These factors, which were already prevalent in pre-pandemic crash data, are becoming more prominent in post-pandemic crash trends.
- 20% of severe or fatal crashes in Arlington involved alcohol as a contributing factor.
- A person not wearing a seatbelt is 5x more likely to be in a fatal or severe injury crash in Arlington than someone wearing a seatbelt.
- Speeding leads to more serious injuries, as 30% of severe or fatal crashes involve speeding in Arlington.
While we continue to deliver safety interventions on streets across the county, we need your help to reduce crashes by:
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Slowing Down: Adhere to posted speed limits.
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Buckling Up: Always wear your seatbelt
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Driving Sober: It is illegal to operate a vehicle under the influence of alcohol (or drugs).
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Encouraging Safe Decisions: Advocate for safe driving behaviors among your family and friends.
On the evening of Thursday, October 19, Arlington Staff, designated community stakeholder representatives, and community members joined together in a conversation about progress, outcomes, and opportunities for the Vision Zero program. Some themes that emerged in the discussion included:
- General positive feedback for the progress and direction of the program
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Desire to see more pilot projects, quick-build projects, and policy changes
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Concern for speeding and a way to mitigate speeding given limited engineering tools
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Suggestions to update the critical crash materials to be more eye-catching
- Desire for more automated enforcement / interest in next steps for existing programs
- Desire for increased collaboration with neighborhoods during HIN audits / hot spots analysis
- Desire for more motorcycle safety education
- Support for increased collaboration and partnerships with schools
- Interest in site plan safety analysis and next steps for the action item
- Concern for crossing safety
We will be working to incorporate this feedback into our ongoing and upcoming initiatives and greatly appreciated the opportunity to speak with community members directly about program progress. Visit the Get Involved page to view the meeting or see the presentation slides.
This past summer, County staff conducted safety audits of the N Lynn St and Washington Blvd High-Injury Network (HIN) corridor segments. These HIN segments were prioritized for auditing due to upcoming repaving projects on both corridors - see the article above and make sure to share your input!
Our findings on N Lynn St ranged from identifying new signage along the corridor to preparing for upcoming biking infrastructure along N Lynn. The Rosslyn BID joined us on this walk and recently launched a new traffic detail staffed by ACPD at the 19th St N intersection. Police will be managing and directing traffic and keeping an eye on double-parking and unsafe driving behaviors. View the N Lynn St safety audit summary here.
Our findings on Washington Blvd ranged from identifying high visibility crosswalk markings needs to updating the Washington & Liberty school zone to addressing safety at locations with a history of similar types of crashes. View the Washington Blvd safety audit summary here.
Since summer, staff have also audited S George Mason Dr and will be conducting audits on segments of S Hayes St, S Fern St, and Langston Blvd. Be on the lookout for more information and documentation about these audits soon.
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Bus Stop Islands are concrete islands located between travel lanes and bike lanes. They eliminate conflict between bicyclists and transit vehicles that must pull curbside to load and unload passengers.
Benefits of Bus Stop Islands:
- Improves safety for bikers
- Reduces transit delay
- Provides more space for pedestrians while waiting for transit
Bus Stop Islands are often constructed in areas with high transit frequency or ridership, high bicycle and pedestrian volumes, and areas that already have a planned or existing protected bike facilities.
Click here to find more information Bus Stop Islands as well as many of the other important road safety tools.
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 The only thing scarier than zombies and witches loose on the streets is an impaired driver. Join Arlington County Police Department for this free event on Saturday, October 28th at the intersection of N Hudson St and Wilson Blvd starting at 8pm.
If you are planning to drink, be sure to arrange a sober ride home in advance:
- Designate a sober driver or plan to use public transportation or a ride service to get home safely.
- The Washington Regional Alcohol Program's 2023 Halloween SoberRide® program is offering free rides home, in partnership with Lyft, from 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 28 until 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 29.
- If you see a suspected impaired driver on the roadway, report to your local law enforcement. To report a suspected impaired driver in Arlington County, call the Emergency Communications Center at 703-558-2222 or 9-1-1 in an emergency.
Please join us on Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 1pm at Wakefield High School in Arlington, VA as we acknowledge and remember Northern Virginia’s victims of road traffic violence and advocate for preventing and eventually stopping road traffic deaths and injuries. Attendance is open to the public. See event page for more information.
High-Injury Network Safety Audits:
Quick-builds in Progress:
- Fairfax Dr and N Jefferson St
- Nelly Custis Dr & N Quincy St
- Washington Blvd & N Lincoln St
Recently Completed Quick-builds:
Visit the Vision Zero Safety Projects page to learn more about safety-driven quick build projects, capital projects, pilot projects, High-Injury Network safety audits, and more.
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