Since it began collecting near-miss data for local roads in 2021, Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets has accumulated more evidence that such close calls between drivers and other travelers reflect patterns of behavior, rather than random or one-time slip-ups.
More than 70% or 94 of the 129 near-misses reported by community members in Fairfax County and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church between January 2025 and June of this year were marked as recurring incidents, according to an analysis released by the volunteer-led safety advocacy organization on Sept. 10.
“The report finds that dangerous conditions for pedestrians and cyclists in Fairfax are not random or isolated,” NoVA FSS said in a press release. “They are concentrated at a small number of known locations and driven by a consistent set of driver behaviors.”
Many reports flagged corridors like Gallows Road and Leesburg Pike (Route 7) where there have been fatal crashes over the past year. In fact, pedestrians were killed in separate crashes on Gallows Road in Merrifield and on Leesburg Pike in Seven Corners on the same night (June 18) this summer.
Fairfax County has seen 15 pedestrian fatalities on its roads so far this year, with the most recent death coming on Friday (Sept. 18) when a driver struck a woman crossing Route 50 near Greenbriar Town Center in a wheelchair. In addition, a 13-year-old Frost Middle School student was killed in a crash while bicycling on Pickett Road in Fairfax City on Sept. 9, and there have been two fatal crashes this year involving electric scooters, including one that killed a 9-year-old rider.
“These numbers show that near-miss reports are early warning signs of serious and fatal crashes, not isolated close calls,” the advocacy group said.
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