Study: More people dying on Hampton Roads highways
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Too many people are dying on roads in our region, according to a study presented Thursday to the Hampton Roads Regional Transportation Planning Organization.
Consider, distracted driving, alcohol use, safety belt use, speeding — 70% of traffic fatalities include at least one of those. Taking away those four would save 100 lives per year, according to a regional traffic study.
The study laid out those reasons, and what can be done about them.
The Safety Study on Crash Fatalities found reckless speeding was the number one cause of death. The study conducted by Keith Nichols who is Principal Transportation Engineer for the Hampton Roads Transportation Organization (HRTPO)
“There is a lot of speeding in our region and it is becoming a bigger problem, especially reckless driving, and speeding 20 miles an hour above the speed limit,” said Keith Nichols, principal transportation engineer for the HRTPO.
Nichols, along with chief transportation engineer Rob Case, presented their findings on traffic fatalities to the HRTPO.
They say they went through thousands of VDOT records to get speeding data.
Nothing was more stunning during the meeting than Case’s deep dive into the connection between police not giving speeding tickets and increasing speeds on our roads.
“This is a much more perfect relationship between citations coming down in orange and speeding going up in black,” Case said.
The graph made the connection between the low number of police citations and a hike in speeding.
The finding — drivers speed more when police are not writing tickets.
They argue in the safety study that too many people are dying on our roads.
“So, the major takeaways we are seeing are especially when it comes to the number of fatalities in our region,” Case said. “Unfortunately, the number is increasing, especially since the pandemic, we have seen a large increase in the number of people killed on our roadways in our region each year.”
In 2011, there were 120 to 140 crash fatalities. By 2021, there were 179 fatalities, 166 fatalities in 2022 and 166 fatalities in 2023. The totals are similar over the three year period, but they’re well above the 2011 total.
“The number of fatalities is up, so crashes have become more fatal more dangerous more problematic,” Case said.
People are also driving differently, and more dangerously, since the pandemic.
“People’s moods, I guess,” Nichols said. “First and foremost, people are just driving faster. They are taking more reckless actions in their vehicles, things like that.”
Congestion levels on the roads dropped during the pandemic.
“So, less congestion on the road makes for more ability to drive faster,” Nichols said. “Once again, we are still seeing that continue even as we return to normal traffic volumes and normal congestion level. So, there is something beyond just that. It is just people driving differently post-pandemic.”
He added: “We have a different frame of mind, and the pandemic changed our driving habits. There is anger on the road. … People are hitting the gas. They are yelling at people around them more. We are just seeing these trends post-pandemic. It is just that people have a different frame of mind.”
This regional safety study comes ahead of Andy Fox’s special report on Danger Ahead.
10 On Your Side takes you to the most dangerous intersections based on the number of crashes, deaths, and serious injuries in Hampton Roads.
See below to see the full Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization safety report.
Hampton-Roads-Regional-Safety-Study-Final-Report_202404240953171379Download
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
