Published October 15, 2024
In two September weeks in Fairfax County, six drivers fatally struck six pedestrians from Hybla Valley to Centreville. The string of incidents made last month the county’s deadliest of the year for pedestrians — and it made Chris French, once again, reflect.
“I think people have sort of numbed themselves to it: ‘Oh, it’s a shame that person got hit, but they were walking across the street,’” French, president of the Fairfax chapter of Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets, said late last week. “Almost as if they were asking for it, when these are people just trying to live their lives.”
It’s the advocacy group’s mission not to let people get numb to the numbers. NoVA FSS, a volunteer-run organization founded in 2017, hosts street-safety presentations in schools, lobbies lawmakers for changes to infrastructure and law, and collects reports from residents on local hot spots for near-collisions; it published its latest Fairfax County findings last month.