Pedestrians in Washington, D.C., remain at serious risk even as overall traffic deaths declined in 2025. New data show that 25 people were killed in traffic crashes in the District in 2025, down from 52 deaths in 2024, a sharp year-to-year drop.
Even with that decline, pedestrians in the D.C. area were twice as likely to be killed in 2025 as they were a decade earlier, despite years of safety plans and repeated commitments to make streets safer.
“We’ve made such big investments and the improvements are showing,” said Sharon Kershbaum, director of the District Department of Transportation. “We just need to continue on this path to get those numbers down across the board,” she said.
The District’s decline followed similar movement across Maryland and Northern Virginia, where traffic deaths also moved closer to pre-pandemic levels in 2025. In Prince George’s County, fatalities fell from 140 in 2023 to 97 in 2025, while Northern Virginia recorded 88 traffic deaths in 2025, down from a peak of 125 in 2022, according to regional transportation data.
Even with the improvement, traffic deaths across the region remain roughly as high as they were a year ago, when local governments adopted Vision Zero goals aimed at eliminating roadway fatalities.
In the District, long-term police data show that traffic deaths have risen and fallen over time rather than moving in a steady downward direction, with totals ranging from the mid-20s to more than 40 over the past two decades.
Maryland’s crash data show similar challenges for people on foot. State records indicate that pedestrian fatalities climbed steadily in the years leading up to 2023, reaching 153 deaths statewide, before easing slightly. Injury crashes involving pedestrians also increased during that period, pointing to continued danger along major corridors in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
Northern Virginia officials reported that traffic deaths fell by about 15 percent in 2025, with state police pointing to expanded seat belt enforcement as one contributing factor. The figures remain preliminary, and authorities expect final totals to rise modestly as cases are finalized, though still below 2024 levels.
National estimates place the District and Maryland among the jurisdictions with the steepest declines in traffic deaths during the first half of 2025. Preliminary figures from the National Safety Council show motor vehicle fatalities dropped by 67% in the District and 20% in Maryland during that period, based on comparable reporting windows.
Impaired driving also shifted during this period. A regional report found that alcohol- and drug-impaired traffic fatalities fell 26% between 2023 and 2024, though injury crashes linked to impairment increased slightly.
For many residents, the statistics do not always match daily experience on city streets, particularly in neighborhoods with wide roadways, limited lighting, and heavy commuter traffic.
“Do I feel safer hearing the latest statistics?” asked Rajon Landon, an Uber driver who lives in Ward 8. “The eye test tells me things are getting a little better, but this city is a long way from where it needs to be. But, it’s good to hear that the mayor, the council, the police, and even the people are trying to be better.”