- Crashes are down ~24% vs the 2016–19 average — but deaths hit a 16-year high (52 in 2023). Severity, not volume, is the crisis.
- Every DC safety target was missed (fatalities 36.4 vs 27 goal).
- Crashes concentrate in Wards 2, 5 & 6; pedestrian severity is worst in Wards 7 & 8.
- 327 cameras live (222 speed) — enforcement activity where speed is the lead factor.
- Speeding flagged in 604 crashes in 2024; automated citations run in the millions per year.
- 6 cited recommendations ready under “What’s next.”
A guide for decisions — not a replacement for judgment.
See the Geography tab for the interactive ward map & High Injury Network.
Safety Outcomes
Answering: “Are we becoming safer?” — outcomes over time.
Crash volume fell ~24% versus the 2016–19 average, but traffic deaths roughly doubled over the decade (52 in 2023). Volume is improving; severity is not. Track killed-or-seriously-injured (KSI) as the primary measure and weight the program toward serious-injury reduction.
Fatalities per DDOT Vision Zero & press reporting; some mid-years approximate.
Crash volume fell ~24% from the 2016–19 average, largely a post-2020 travel change. But deaths doubled over the decade. A safety program that only tracked total crashes would look like it was winning. Tracking killed-or-seriously-injured (KSI) tells the real story — and is what the Tuto Safety Score weights most heavily.
Intervention Effectiveness
Is our investment working? Automated enforcement & engineering.
Speeding is flagged in 604 2024 crashes and concentrates on a handful of arterial corridors. Automated enforcement shows the strongest, fastest returns (school-zone top speeds down 35%). Next best action: extend camera coverage to the top pedestrian-crash corridors in Wards 5, 7 and 8, paired with quick-build crosswalk upgrades.
Source: DC Open Data ASC layer — 327 enforcement sites across 4 recorded types. DDOT's program also operates bus-lane, bus-zone & school-bus-arm cameras that aren't in this feed, so totals shown elsewhere (e.g. the DDOT site) may differ. See the Data Sources tab.
| Program | Effect | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Speed cameras (citywide) | −18% mean speed | Good |
| School-zone enforcement | −35% top speed | Good |
| Red-light cameras | −9% side-impact | Watch |
| Corridor redesign (backlog) | not yet built | Gap |
Program effects illustrative except camera & speeding counts (live).
Geography
Where crashes happen — and where safety investment should go next. Live · 2024 by ward
Volume concentrates in Wards 2, 5 & 6, but pedestrian fatalities fall hardest on Wards 7 & 8 east of the river, where camera coverage is thinner. Prioritize the Tier 1 High Injury Network corridors and weight severity + exposure over raw counts.
Wards 2, 5 and 6 carry the most crashes by volume (dense, high-traffic corridors). But pedestrian fatalities fall hardest on Wards 7 and 8 east of the Anacostia, where crash counts are moderate but outcomes are severe and camera coverage historically thinner. A fair program weights severity and exposure, not just raw counts — the same principle behind the Tuto Score.
Community Impact
Technical data, translated into outcomes for residents and elected officials. Modeled estimates
An estimated ~520 crashes prevented and ~28 serious injuries avoided versus the pre-pandemic baseline (~$18M avoided) — yet 52 people died in 2023. DC is preventing crashes but not yet deaths; the next phase should target the highest-severity corridors.
“Compared to the years before the pandemic, DC streets saw roughly 520 fewer crashes in 2024 and an estimated 28 serious injuries avoided — worth about $18M in avoided costs to families and the city. But 52 people still lost their lives in 2023. We are preventing crashes, but not yet preventing deaths. The next phase focuses on the corridors and communities where the most serious harm happens.”
*Prevented/avoided figures are modeled estimates against a pre-pandemic baseline, for illustration. Crash and camera counts are live DC Open Data.
Benchmarking
How DC compares to peers — normalized by population. Peers illustrative
DC's 7.7 fatalities per 100k is above the illustrative peer median of 6.1 — bottom ~40% of similar large cities. The gap is in fatality severity, not crash volume; normalized comparison sharpens once each peer's data is connected.
DC = 7.7 per 100k (52 deaths / 671,803 residents, 2023, from live + reported data). Peer values are illustrative placeholders until those cities are onboarded — this is exactly the normalization the Tuto engine produces once each peer's data is connected.
Tuto AI · Safety Intelligence
Recommendations generated from DC's crash data, plans & reports, matched to the national countermeasure catalog — each with its sources. Live engine
Reports
One-click, executive-ready exports.
Executive summary, charts, resident-friendly language. Formatted PDF for City Council.
Auto-formats need statement, baseline data, outcomes, and safety improvements.
Trends, alerts, and the current Tuto Safety Score.
Download the underlying crash records and metrics behind any chart.
Data Sources
Every source feeding this account, and when it was last updated — so you always know exactly what you're looking at. Washington, DC