An annual rally honoring victims of vehicle crashes in Northern Virginia is scheduled to begin at Gateway Park in Rosslyn this weekend.
The event, hosted by Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets, will start at 10 a.m. Sunday, the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Organizers hope to advance the following goals.
- Call attention to the issue of pedestrian and vulnerable road user fatalities and serious injuries.
- Elevate the voices of those who have been most impacted by traffic crashes.
- Advocate for traffic regulations that will promote safer streets on our roads, such as broadening the authority to install Speed Safety Cameras on high-crash network roads.
- Promote the Vision Zero goal of eliminating all traffic fatalities and serious injuries in all three Northern Virginia jurisdictions of Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax.
Attendees will include families who lost a loved one, crash survivors and officials including Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis, Del. Patrick Hope and Alexandria Police Chief Tarrick McGuire.
Traffic crashes killed 24 pedestrians and seriously injured over 83 pedestrians and cyclists across Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County in 2024, according to a press release.
“These are not just statistics,” the release says. “They are our parents, grandparents, husbands, wives, children, friends, and neighbors.”
Of these incidents, only one fatal crash took place in Arlington, the lowest number the county has seen since 2018. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of fatal collisions in Arlington varied between three and five.
A total of 38 crashes in Arlington resulted in “severe” injuries last year.
This weekend’s rally will begin on the southern end of Gateway Park, at the intersection of Fort Myer Drive and Langston Blvd. Attendees will then take the Metro to Foggy Bottom to march to the Lincoln Memorial with Families for Safe Streets chapters from D.C. and Maryland.
Photo via ACFD/X
