Published January 8, 2026 at 10:30AM
A new report on traffic safety in Northern Virginia is raising concerns about the number of “near miss” incidents in Alexandria, especially those involving children.
A total of 155 near miss incidents involving children were reported in Alexandria from January 2024 to December 2025 — more than in any other Northern Virginia locality, according to the report from Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets (NoVA FSS). Of those incidents, 53 of them occurred at a single intersection in Potomac West.
The two-year report aims to “[bring] awareness to the long-standing risks of street safety to children as reported by their parents” in Alexandria and Falls Church city, Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun counties.
Three locations in Alexandria are identified as “high-risk hotspots.”
- Hickory Street and Kennedy Street (53 incident reports)
- Mount Vernon Avenue and Stewart Avenue (six incident reports)
- King Street and N. Quaker Lane (two incident reports)
The busy Hickory Street intersection sees numerous pedestrians and cyclists in addition to some 1,200 drivers per day. According to the new report, it also has the highest rate of near miss incidents involving children in the entire region.
Driver behaviors are influenced by a lack of stop signs or signals, “not enough time to cross” and poor visibility, the report says.