(Click on the image for Bryan Barnett-Woods' Greater Greater Washington report)
- As part of its Vision Zero Initiative, Prince George’s County published a tool in August mapping recent traffic crashes involving fatalities or serious injuries. Anyone can now explore the data to see where serious crashes are happening and where those crashes involve pedestrians or bicyclists. [See https://dviicac.blogspot.com/2020/08/innovative-new-tool-supports-vision-zero.html]
- The county’s data maps are part of an effort to better monitor traffic crashes to identify trends, high risk populations, and dangerous locations. The county plans to use this data to work toward Vision Zero, a goal to eliminate traffic fatalities and injuries by 2040.
- One notable detail the maps reveal is that 76% of fatal crashes, and 83% of pedestrian fatalities, occurred on state-owned roadways. This could be because state-owned highways often have higher speed limits than smaller county-owned streets. One of these roads, Indian Head Highway (Route 210), saw more than 300 total accidents each year between 2016 and 2019, WTOP reported — Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks called it a “death trap.” The high prevalence of serious crashes on state-owned roads means the county will have to work in collaboration with the state to make changes.