The Washington Post: DC traffic deaths at 14-year high with low-income areas hardest hit

The Washington Post, February 23, 2022, DC traffic deaths at 14-year high with low-income areas hardest hit

Lower-income neighborhoods in the District recorded eight times more traffic fatalities in recent years than the city’s wealthiest area, an analysis shows, as residents call for more enforcement and road improvements following the deadliest year on city streets in more than a decade.

The 40 traffic fatalities in the nation’s capital last year were the most since 2007, fueled by what authorities say is a proliferation of unsafe driving during the coronavirus pandemic that reflects an alarming rise in traffic deaths nationwide. The toll has fallen disproportionately on the city’s two poorest wards, which contain less than one-quarter of Washington’s population but nearly half of its road deaths.

A Washington Post analysis of eight years of data shows wards 7 and 8, which are majority-Black and largely east of the Anacostia River, have borne the brunt of traffic fatalities and are home to the city’s deadliest traffic corridor. The rise in deaths comes seven years after the city launched a multipronged strategy to reduce traffic-related injuries and deaths — actions that have done little to stem the bloodshed.

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