Virginia is asking the public to weigh in on the biggest safety problems facing the state’s roads as officials work on a new five-year plan.

What makes a road feel safe? Is it lower speeds, better intersections, safer crossings or stronger enforcement?

VDOT is asking Virginians to share their experiences and concerns through a statewide survey as the agency updates its Strategic Highway Safety Plan, a five-year roadmap for reducing traffic deaths and serious injuries.

The survey is open through Aug. 23, according to VDOT.

What Virginia wants to know

The survey asks residents to identify the road safety issues they believe deserve the most attention.

Those include speeding, impaired driving, occupant protection and other areas identified in the state’s current safety plan. Participants can also weigh in on which strategies they believe could do the most to prevent crashes and reduce deaths and serious injuries, according to VDOT.

The effort is being overseen by a group that includes VDOT, the Virginia State Police, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Health and other state and local agencies and safety partners.

The goal is to combine public feedback with crash data and other research as officials develop the next plan.

Virginia's road safety problem

The need for that work is clear.

Virginia recorded 907 roadway deaths in 2023, and fatalities rose to 918 in 2024. That was 18% higher than the state's target of 779 deaths for that year under its current safety plan, according to VDOT.

Several areas have seen particularly troubling increases. Between the 2016-2020 period and 2020-2024, fatalities associated with speeding and bicyclists increased 25%. Intersection-related fatalities rose 23%, while fatalities involving young drivers and motorcyclists each increased 22%, according to VDOT.

There is some progress. Impaired-driving fatalities declined 2% over those periods, while serious injuries tied to impaired driving fell 11%.

Traffic deaths and serious injuries also declined in 2025, but VDOT says they remain at pre-pandemic levels.

A different way to think about road safety

Virginia's current plan follows the Safe System approach, which starts with a simple idea: People will make mistakes, but those mistakes should not result in death or serious injury.

Instead of putting the responsibility entirely on drivers, the approach looks at the entire transportation system. That includes safer roads, safer speeds, safer vehicles, safer road users and better care after a crash, according to VDOT.

It also recognizes that road safety is a shared responsibility involving transportation agencies, law enforcement, emergency responders, medical professionals and the people using the roads.

Pedestrians and bicyclists are part of the picture

The state's safety efforts also extend beyond people inside vehicles.

VDOT and its partners developed a Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment for pedestrians and bicyclists. The assessment uses roadway, traffic, crash, community and demographic data to identify areas where people walking and biking face greater risks, according to VDOT.

The analysis identified portions of Virginia's roadway network with the highest combination of factors associated with vulnerable road user crashes and travel patterns. The findings are being used to identify additional actions that could improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

What happens next?

Virginia's current Strategic Highway Safety Plan calls for cutting roadway deaths and severe injuries in half by 2045. Reaching that goal would require an average annual decline of roughly 2% to 4%, according to VDOT.

The updated Strategic Highway Safety Plan is expected to be released in early 2027.

Source: VDOT