Vehicle crash fatalities are rising, finds D.C.-area study

A Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments study released Wednesday found that vehicle crash-related deaths are getting worse.

The study drew upon data collected from 2019 to 2023 and found that crash-related fatalities went from just above 300 per year in 2019 to above 350 from 2021 through 2023.

In total, the study found 1,774 crash-related deaths between 2019 and 2023 and 10,403 crashes that resulted in serious injuries.

The study found that lane-management crashes resulted in the most deaths, at 700, or roughly 40% of the total. That includes vehicles leaving the road, vehicles being side-swiped and head-on crashes.

The second-most fatal crash type was crashes involving people who weren’t motorists, including bicyclists and pedestrians, at 535 deaths, or roughly 30% of the total. The majority of those fatalities, 508, involved cyclists. 

The third-most fatal type was crashes at intersections, including those involving a vehicle traveling at an angle, a vehicle making a left turn or a car rear-ending another one, at 374 deaths, or 21% of the total. 

The other 165 deaths were attributed to vehicles overturning or catching fire, cars backing up, and cars hitting parked vehicles. 

Adjusted for population, the Washington area’s inner suburbs saw the most deaths. The average of the entire area was just over six crash-related deaths per 100,000 people, while the inner suburbs had a fatality rate of almost seven crash-related deaths per 100,000 people.

The study defines inner suburbs as Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and Fairfax County, along with the cities of Bowie, College Park, Fairfax, Falls Church, Gaithersburg, Laurel and Rockville.

The study’s authors said the rise in fatalities could be linked to “behavioral factors such as speeding, impaired driving, seatbelt nonuse, and distracted driving.”

In particular, the study noted increased speeding by drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic when there was less traffic on the region’s roadways. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of speeding-related deaths went from just above 80 in 2019 to over 140 in 2023. Speeding contributed to 9% of all crashes, but 32% of all crash-related deaths.