After collecting reports on hundreds of near-miss crashes over the last year and a half, Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets is calling on Alexandria to deploy new authority over stop sign cameras and other measures to address driver behaviors.
Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets, which includes an Alexandria chapter, collected 241 near-miss reports in the city between January 2025 and June 2026. While crashes are recorded on the city’s dashboard, the organization takes resident reports of near-misses by text and online survey.
In 76% of the reports, failure to yield was cited as the top driver behavior contributing to the near-misses. Speeding was identified in 36% of reports, and running red lights or stop signs was cited in 35%.
“It’s a problem throughout Northern Virginia, and it’s a particular problem in Alexandria,” Mike Doyle, a crash survivor who founded Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets (NoVAFSS) and Alexandria Families for Safe Streets, told ALXnow. “Drivers are not coming to a complete stop at a crossing where technically, legally, the pedestrian or cyclist have the right of way.”
Near-miss incidents are most often reported between 6-9 a.m. and 3-6 p.m. Many of the near-miss reports are concentrated around Old Town and Del Ray, which have high pedestrian activity. Doyle says Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets is working to improve outreach to underserved communities in the West End and Arlandria, where crashes are documented but near-misses may be underreported.
“They’re the ones that are most at risk, suffer the most, and we’re not getting their input on safety in the community, so it’s something we’re trying to improve,” Doyle said.
High-risk intersections identified in the near-miss report were:
- Kennedy St & Hickory St — confusing mini-roundabout, dangerous crosswalk “safety islands”
- S Washington St & Wilkes St — near a school; site of a 2020 pedestrian fatality
- Mount Vernon Ave (at Del Ray, Custis, and Oxford Aves) — corridor bordering seven schools
- Duke St & W Taylor Run Pkwy — red-light running through active crosswalks
- Cameron Station Blvd — speeding near an elementary school zone
- N Hampton Dr — speeding on a hill grade, near a major bus stop
- N Beauregard St & King St — cyclists/pedestrians struck by turning vehicles
- Radford St & W Braddock Rd — unsignalized crossing to housing and schools
- Kenwood Ave & W Braddock Rd — red-light running, narrow sidewalks, no bike lane
The organization continues to receive frequent near-miss reports from the mini-roundabout at the intersection of Kennedy Street and Hickory Street in Warwick Village. According to the report, the small roundabout intersection can especially create confusion for downhill drivers and pose safety risks to pedestrians. Although the city has since added more visible crosswalks and a pedestrian median, the group would like to see the city restore stop signs to the intersection.
“Even though I’m a big fan of roundabouts for the most part, that’s a very difficult intersection because there’s a lot of different roads there,” Doyle said. “It’s confusing, and it’s not big enough for the normal type of roundabout.”
Another high-risk corridor identified in the report was Mount Vernon Avenue, which spans from Arlandria through Del Ray into Rosemont. Some intersections where near-misses were commonly reported are E. Del Ray Avenue, E. Custis
Ave, and E. Oxford Avenue in Del Ray.
“It’s a wonderful community, a lot of walkability, but little ones, and it can be challenging,” Doyle said. “Even though they’ve done some things on Mount Vernon to try to improve the street design, it still is imperfect, and technology, we think, can help.”
One strategy that the organization believes would help is stop signs in the school zones. Doyle said NoVAFSS advocated for new legislation that allows stop sign enforcement cameras in school crossing zones, highway work zones and high-risk speed corridors.
Alexandria currently utilizes speed cameras in several school zones, with enforcement during school arrival and dismissal times. Doyle said data has shown Alexandria’s speed cameras have reduced speeding over the limit in school zones, and in Prince George’s County, Md., stop sign running decreased 70% since cameras were installed.
“The biggest opportunity we think to improve safety around the schools is for the city to put in stop sign cameras at the crosswalks around the school,” Doyle said.
Doyle says the organization is aware of families’ safety concerns over walk zone changes implemented with redistricting at Alexandria City Public Schools. The near-miss analysis indicated children were present in 52% of reports.
NoVAFSS had used near-miss data to advocate for road safety improvements around schools. For example, it vouched for the Russell Road parking space removals approved by the Traffic and Parking Board to improve pedestrian visibility and provide refuge islands. However, the city’s Transportation and Environmental Services director is now recommending a scaled-back alternative.
“We’ve been strong advocates for doing what’s called daylighting, which is don’t put a parking space at the corner of an intersection,” Doyle said. “It’s open space and it’s easier for the driver to see another person or vehicle at that intersection, it’s easier for the pedestrian or cyclist or parents to see a vehicle coming down the road.”
NoVAFSS is also working to compile an analysis on crash history involving pedestrians and cyclists who were injured, seriously injured or killed. The organization’s pedestrian education at middle and high schools encourages pedestrians to stop, look and wave to drivers and proceed when the driver waves back. That same message is relayed to drivers in the group’s distracted driving program.
Doyle said the city is “doing a pretty good job” on improving road safety conditions amid funding limitations. But he attributed driver behavior to the cause of the crash in which he was struck and seriously injured at a four-way stop Old Town intersection in 2012.
“That’s driver behavior, and that’s really hard to engineer,” Doyle said. “Until we get the technology in all the cars that have all these sensors that can pick up a pedestrian or cyclist or a deer or whatever it is that’s coming into the road, and the car automatically goes into a braking system … until that that technology is more prevalent, we’re going to continue to have human behavior problems.”
