If you’ve ever wondered how many accidents have happened on your street, or just how dangerous your morning commute is, look no further. The Virginia DMV recently unveiled an interactive crash locations map.
Users can view accidents by type, cause and severity throughout an entire locality, or down to a single street anywhere in the Commonwealth. The agency hopes that the online tool will help make drivers more aware of the specific dangers they face — or pose, especially when it comes to distracted driving — while on the road.
In addition to various exchanges along I-64, the map shows several accident hotspots throughout the Historic Triangle.
In James City County, the intersection of Richmond and Croaker Roads has produced 11 accidents in 2017. The stretch of Richmond Road that runs through Lightfoot, Norge and Toano has been the site of dozens of accidents this year.
Monticello Avenue has also been a high-accident area. In sum, James City County has seen 453 auto accidents in 2017, according to the DMV.
York County, on the other hand, has produced 514 accidents this year. While most occurred somewhere along I-64 or Route 17, a total of 15 accidents have occurred in the vicinity of Route 199’s exchange with Mooretown Road. The route’s exchange with Merrimac Trail and Pocahantas Trail has also produced 15 accidents to date in 2017.
The City of Williamsburg has seen 102 accidents in 2017 — with 10 taking place at the intersection of 199 and Jamestown Road. The area around the intersection of Lafayette Street, Richmond Road and Monticello Avenue has seen more than a dozen accidents, and several more accidents occurred all along Lafayette Street.
“Educating drivers is an important part of crash prevention,” DMV Commisioner Richard D. Holcomb said in a press release. “This new feature allows Virginians to see where crashes occur most in their neighborhoods and the factors causing those crashes. With this information, you might use extra caution when traveling through a particular intersection or remind a new driver of the hazards of driving at an unsafe speed on a road near your home where speed-related crashes happen regularly.”
The map uses data from the Highway Safety Office’s Traffic Records Electronic Data System, or TREDS, which compiles information from police reports, DMV records and other sources. (It’s also what we used to determine the roads with the most crashes this year).
“TREDS is Virginia’s “one-stop-shop” for accurate, timely and detailed highway safety information for analysis and reporting,” according to the release. “TREDS data is used to save lives – specifically to support Virginia’s efforts to reduce crashes, injuries, fatalities and associated costs.”
Andrew Harris contributed reporting.
This article was published in partnership with WYDaily’s sister publication Southside Daily.
