By Rachel Weiner, Washington Post
January 15, 2025: “In 2020, Virginia passed a law intended to make it easier to prosecute driverswho hit pedestrians or cyclists. But prosecutors across the state have brought charges under the law 32 times in the last four years. In only eight of those cases was someone convicted of the charge.
It’s a national problem with what are known as “vulnerable road user” laws, which generally penalize “careless or distracted” driving that results in a serious injury or death for someone outside a car. The laws are meant to punish drivers in those scenarios who, because they weren’t speeding, drunk or otherwise reckless, might get away with only a ticket.”
“I’m hopeful that this year it will actually get through,” said Mike Doyle of the safety advocacy group Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets. Doyle was hit by a turning SUV driver in a crosswalk in Old Town Alexandria in 2016; he suffered a serious head injury, and it took him three years to recover. “Otherwise you can go around killing people and get a $250 fine” — the current maximum punishment in Virginia for failure to yield to a pedestrian. As in other states, pedestrian fatalities in Virginia spiked during the pandemic. The numbers have since fallen, but not to pre-pandemic levels.