WASHINGTON, D. C. (Thursday, October 4, 2018) –– October is often one of the deadliest month of the year on the roads. Ninety-nine persons lost their lives in traffic-related crashes in Prince George’s County during 2017, a 32 percent increase over 2016, according to preliminary data. This marks a sharp reversal of fortunes from 2016, when 75 persons died as a result of fatal injuries suffered in traffic crashes on county roadways, as the county experienced the lowest highway death toll in recent memory and years. Year-in and year-out, Prince George’s County continues to lead Maryland in the sheer number of roadway fatalities and was the scene of nearly one-fifth of Maryland’s “557 traffic-related” deaths in 2017. In Virginia, that dubious distinction goes to Fairfax County. Although both counties are seriously committed to the “vision of eliminating fatalities and serious injuries” for all users on their roadway networks, the figures underscore the fact that the two counties still have a long road ahead for achieving zero deaths, notes AAA Mid-Atlantic.

The two counties – Maryland’s Prince George’s County and Virginia’s Fairfax County – are separated by a distance of 31 miles, as the crow flies or as the Capital Beltway wends. Prince George’s County is a particularly dangerous venue for pedestrians to tred. During 2017, 24 pedestrians perished in Prince George’s County, compared to 19 pedestrians the previous year, as the country once again experienced the highest number of pedestrian fatalities in the Washington metro area, according to preliminary data enumerated in the spring 2018 Street Smart campaign. That compares to 17 pedestrian deaths in Montgomery County and 11 pedestrian fatalities in Washington, D.C. In contrast, no pedestrian fatalities occurred in Fairfax County that year, yet the county witnessed 35 traffic deaths in 2017, the highest among 133 jurisdictions in Virginia.

“Maryland has 24 counties and county-equivalents, and 157 municipalities. However, Prince George’s County not only has the highest highway death toll in the state, it also has the highest number of fatalities of any locality in the entire region. In recent years it also leads the state in the ‘number of crashes involving pedestrians and those due to distracted driving,’” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. “Virginia has 95 counties and 38 independent cities. Yet the roads of Fairfax County are the scenes of the highest number of traffic crashes, highway fatalities, and road traffic injuries in Virginia. As of last year, 225 persons have lost their lives in traffic crashes in Fairfax County since 2012.”

In contrast, during the five-year period from 2012 to 2016, more persons died on roadways in Prince George’s County than in any other jurisdiction in the state, according to data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The total number of highway deaths in Prince George’s County during this period was 443, according to FARS data. During this time, an average of 89 persons died in fatal crashes per year in Prince George’s County, calculates AAA Mid-Atlantic. It is the county’s perennial “thorn in the flesh.”

Depending upon the year, the county bordering the eastern portion of the nation’s capital accounts for nearly a fifth of all roadway deaths in Maryland. In fact, it outranks the number of highway deaths in Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, Montgomery County, Baltimore City, and Charles County, in that order. As an aggregate, they all top the list of the top ten counties or localities with the highest total number of highway fatalities in Maryland. In comparison, more persons perished in motor vehicle crashes in Fairfax County than in any other Virginia county in the five-year period from 2012 to 2016. All told, 185 persons lost their lives in fatal roadway crashes in Fairfax County from 2012 to 2016, comprising an average of 37 highway deaths per year on county interstates, streets and roads, during the selfsame span of time.

Prince George’s County and Fairfax County also lead the region in the highest number of pedestrian fatalities. A total of 19 pedestrians lost their lives in Prince George’s County in 2016, compared to 16 pedestrian deaths in Fairfax County that year, according to the 2017 Street Smart Public Education Program under the aegis of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). From 2009 to 2013, “more [Prince George’s County] residents died from motor vehicle accidents than in any other Maryland County,” according to the 2016 annual report by the Prince George’s County Health Department.

That was also the case in the three-year period from 2014 to 2016. “The county also leads in the number of fatal crashes due to distracted driving, driver involved alcohol or drug use, and driver speed,” the agency warns. “The county has the second highest number of fatal crashes involving pedestrians on foot” in the state of Maryland. During the 1990s, Prince George’s County launched a major public safety campaign to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries on its roads, which peaked in the triple digits in the 1980s. Yet the county still led “the region for motor vehicle deaths, pedestrian deaths and fatal accidents involving alcohol,” as The Washington Post reported in 1998. From 1980 to 1997, “2,034 traffic deaths occurred in the county, including 286 pedestrian deaths, and 840 alcohol-related road deaths.”

5 Year Trend For The Top 10 Counties of 2016 - Fatalities

Source: NHTSA 

From 2012 to 2016, Prince George’s County averaged 13,988 traffic crashes annually, compared to per annum averages of 22,635 traffic crashes in Baltimore City, 16,111 collisions in Baltimore County, and 12,199 wrecks in Montgomery County, according to Maryland Department of Transportation data. The county leads the state in the death rate due to motor vehicle crashes. Here is a breakdown of roadway deaths in Prince George’s County, and its percentage of the statewide total.

• 2012.  87 deaths, for 17 percent of the state’s total road fatalities.

• 2013.  87 deaths or 19 percent.

• 2014.  98 highway deaths or 22 percent of the total statewide.

• 2015.  96 roadway fatalities or 18 percent of the total statewide.

• 2016.  75 roadway fatalities or 15 percent of the total statewide.

  They say there is “nothing new under the sun,” but state officials lauded Prince George’s County for launching a new “strategic highway safety plan” in 2014.  It paid immediate dividends, as highway fatalities dropped by 22 percent on county roads from 2015 to 2016, according to the Fatality Analysis Reporting

  System (FARS).  The other leading counties for the locus of traffic fatalities in the state are, in this order,

   

• Baltimore County (314 traffic deaths, an average of 62.8 deaths per year).

• Anne Arundel (208 traffic deaths, or an average of 41.6 deaths per year).

• Montgomery (204 traffic deaths or an average of 40.8 traffic deaths per year).

• Baltimore City (172 traffic deaths or an average of 34.4 traffic deaths per year).

• Charles County (83 traffic deaths or 16.6 traffic deaths per year).

Among Virginia’s counties and cities, Fairfax County boasts 781,154 licensed drivers, the highest total among all jurisdictions in the Commonwealth. In 2017, Fairfax County witnessed 13,631 traffic crashes, resulting in 35 fatalities and 6,418 injuries, according to the 2017 Virginia Traffic Crash Facts report. Fairfax County led the state in the number of traffic crashes in both 2017 (statewide traffic crash total: 127,375); and in 2016, when it suffered 13,781 crashes (2016 statewide traffic crash total: 128,525). Chesterfield County experienced 34 highway deaths in 2017. During 2016, 34 persons lost their lives in traffic crashes in Fairfax County, compared to 31 the previous year, according to FARS data. Yet the 2016 Virginia Traffic Crash Facts report places the number of roadway fatalities at 35 persons and the number of persons injured at 7,567 souls.

A traffic crash occurs every 4.1 minutes in Virginia. In the five-year period from 2012 to 2016, Fairfax County witnessed the deaths of 185 persons on its roadway network. By county ranking, Prince William County has the second highest number of highway fatalities in Virginia. In fact, 101 persons lost their lives in Prince William County from 2012 to 2016, or an average of 20.2 highway deaths per year. Although

Virginia’s statewide highway death toll is 52.7 percent higher than Maryland’s, roadways are deadlier in Prince George’s County than in Fairfax County. Traffic fatalities were 139.4 percent higher in Prince George’s County than in Fairfax County, where 74 percent of “commuting trips are people driving alone.” 

5 Year Trend for the Top 10 Counties of 2016 - Fatalities

Source: NHTSA

Even so, 3,772 persons died in fatal crashes in Virginia from 2012 to 2016, an average of 746.4 highway deaths annually, compared to 2,443 traffic deaths in Maryland, for an average of 489 highway fatalities during the period. What is more, 179 persons are injured per day in traffic crashes in Virginia. The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) tracked 9,106 “reportable” traffic crashes in 2016, including 4,091 crashes with injuries, compared to 9,413 reportable crashes in 2014, including 4,214 injury crashes.

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