How Fairfax Co. is using data patterns to help make roads safer

The number of fatal crashes in Fairfax County, Virginia, increased from 2020 to 2022, according to the county’s new mobility and transportation data dashboard.

There were 60 fatal crashes in the county in 2022, the dashboard shows, and crashes of all types increased over that same period of 2020 to 2022.

The dashboard has been launched as part of the county’s strategic plan, County Executive Bryan Hill told WTOP. The county has also rolled out an economic opportunity dashboard and healthy communities dashboard.

In collaboration with the Board of Supervisors, Hill said, the data will be evaluated to inform future decisions about community needs.

“We’re just trying to ensure that [residents] know we are trying to make this the most safe and user-friendly, vehicle-friendly, mobility-friendly county in the jurisdiction,” Hill said.

The mobility and transportation dashboard is divided into what the county is calling “key indicators.” They include:

• Efficient and varied transportation options
• Infrastructure condition, sustainability and environmental impact
• Traveler safety
• Increased accessibility, affordability and equity

There were 2,923 crashes in Fairfax County in 2022, according to the dashboard, the most since 2019, when there were over 3,500 recorded.

The county’s Board of Supervisors, Hill said, has invested over $100 million over six years “to deal with our roadways, with our facilities, to make it more accessible to walking, bicycling, scootering and strolling.”

The county has also worked to install speed cameras, speed humps and speed tables, among other things, along some roadways, Hill said. Since 1998, 610 traffic calming devices have been installed across the county, according to the dashboard.

“The key here is for everybody to be outside and enjoy Fairfax County, not to be worrying about vehicular speed and things as such,” Hill said. “We’re working toward that focus.”

The mobility and transportation dashboard also includes information about commuting patterns. Fewer residents worked from home in 2022 than in 2021, it found, and of the people who commuted in 2022, nine in 10 of them drove to work.

“We’re trying to take the cars off the road, slow them down and ensure we have a good rail system and/or bus system to get folks where they need to be,” Hill said.

There will be 10 total dashboards tied to the strategic plan, Hill said. They were developed after over 65 community listening sessions, during which residents detailed their concerns.