Car accidents in the Richmond-Petersburg region: a local data hub

If you were just in a crash somewhere between Short Pump and Petersburg, this page is meant to give you the local picture: how many crashes happen here, which roads see the worst of it, what the state and VDOT are doing about it, and the Virginia rules that will shape any claim you file. Every figure below comes from a public source you can check yourself, listed at the end.

The numbers

Virginia recorded 129,244 traffic crashes in 2024, and 918 people died on its roads, up from 907 the year before.¹² Statewide, that works out to a crash every 4.1 minutes and about 2.5 deaths a day.¹ Alcohol became a bigger factor, with alcohol-related deaths up 8.5 percent, from 293 in 2023 to 318 in 2024.²

The Richmond area carries a heavy share of that toll. A WRIC review of state crash data from 2017 through 2025 counted 7,325 deadly crashes statewide that killed 7,803 people. The Greater Richmond region accounted for 1,399 of those fatal crashes, the second-highest total of any region in Virginia.³

There's better news inside the city line. Richmond Police reported 17 traffic deaths in 2024, down from 25 in 2023, a 32 percent drop, and serious-injury crashes fell about 10 percent.⁴ The department paired that with enforcement: speed-related summonses rose 29 percent and DUI arrests 22 percent year over year.⁴

Pedestrians are the piece that keeps this from being a clean win. Richmond pedestrian deaths fell from nine in 2023 to six in 2024, then climbed to 13 in 2025.⁵⁶ City leaders have called 2026 "the year of the pedestrian" and promised new spending on crossings and traffic calming.⁶

Where crashes cluster

Richmond has adopted Vision Zero and set a goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2030.⁷ The plan is built around a "high injury network," a short list of streets that see an outsized share of the worst crashes.⁸ Richmond Police have named intersections along Broad Street and Semmes Avenue as part of that network.⁴ Hull Street Road and Midlothian Turnpike are among the corridors the city has been retrofitting with speed tables and other calming work.⁷

Outside the city, Route 1 (Jefferson Davis Highway) through Chesterfield County is a recurring problem, a wide commercial strip where single-vehicle wrecks and pedestrian crashes turn up often. Chesterfield officers worked one such crash in the 7000 block of Route 1 that sent a driver to Chippenham Hospital with serious injuries.⁹

Then there's I-95. The interstate cuts the region north to south and carries heavy truck traffic through Petersburg, Colonial Heights, and Prince George. Fatal crashes here are frequent and often involve tractor-trailers. In April 2025, a man was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on I-95 near the 52-mile marker in Petersburg.¹⁰

The projects changing these roads

VDOT's Richmond District has several construction jobs underway that will reshape local traffic over the next few years.

On I-64, the district is widening the long gap between Richmond and Williamsburg, adding a lane in each direction across mile markers 215.6 to 224.3 in New Kent County, a $203.8 million project scheduled through spring 2029.¹¹ Closer in, the I-64 interchange at Exit 181 (Parham Road) in Henrico is getting a $13.4 million rebuild aimed at its collision patterns, and the Ashland Road interchange in Goochland is being converted to a diverging-diamond design for $91.7 million.¹¹ Henrico's West Broad Street corridor is due for $14.1 million in turn-lane and intersection work at Dominion Boulevard and Cox Road.¹¹

In the Tri-Cities, VDOT has studied the I-95/I-85 interchange in Petersburg and Colonial Heights, an eight-mile stretch where merging and weaving drive both congestion and crashes, and has identified interchange safety fixes there.¹²

The region is also building the Fall Line Trail, a $74.3 million, 43-mile walking and biking path that will link Ashland, Hanover, Henrico, Richmond, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, and Petersburg. It will be the area's first continuous off-road route for people who aren't in a car.¹³

What Virginia law requires after a crash

A few rules matter from the moment metal meets metal.

If anyone is hurt or killed, the driver has to give immediate notice to a law-enforcement officer. Willfully failing to do so is a Class 4 misdemeanor under Virginia Code § 46.2-371.¹⁴ Get a police report started, because it becomes the backbone of any later claim.

You generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal-injury lawsuit in Virginia, and five years for damage to your vehicle or other property, under Virginia Code § 8.01-243.¹⁵ Miss the two-year deadline and your injury claim is almost always finished, however strong it was.

Insurance minimums recently went up. For policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, Virginia requires at least $50,000 in bodily-injury coverage per person, $100,000 per crash, and $25,000 for property damage, replacing the old 30/60/20 limits.¹⁶ The state still lets some owners pay a $600 fee instead of buying coverage, which leaves them personally responsible for what they cause, so it's worth confirming the other driver was actually insured.¹⁶

The rule that catches people off guard

Virginia is one of a handful of states that still follow pure contributory negligence. If you're found even one percent at fault for a crash, you can be barred from recovering anything. The state's courts have applied that principle for generations; the idea that "no person is entitled to recover... for damages which have been occasioned by his own... neglect" traces back through cases like Baskett v. Banks, decided by the Supreme Court of Virginia in 1947.¹⁷

That's why the other side's insurer works so hard to pin part of the blame on you, and why the specifics of a crash (who had the right of way, how fast each car was going) matter more here than in most states. If you're weighing a claim, consider talking with a Virginia attorney who handles these cases; you can start with the legal directory.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Virginia DMV, 2024 Virginia Traffic Crash Facts. https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/documents/VA-traffic-crash-2024.pdf

2. WTVR CBS 6, "Virginia traffic deaths rise: What's being done to make streets safer" (Nov. 14, 2025). https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/virginia-traffic-deaths-rise-nov-14-2025

3. WRIC 8News, "Deadly data: A look at Virginia's crashes in recent years." https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/virginia-rva-crash-2017-2025/

4. Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, "Agency Spotlight: Richmond Police Achieve 32% Reduction in Traffic-Related Fatalities in 2024." https://www.vachiefs.org/news/agency-spotlight-richmond-police-achieve-32-reduction-in-traffic-related-fatalities-in-2024

5. WRIC 8News, "Richmond sees 29% drop in vehicle-related deaths in 2024 compared to 2023." https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/richmond-sees-29-drop-in-vehicle-related-deaths-in-2024-compared-to-2023/

6. VPM News, "Richmond leaders pledge action after string of pedestrian deaths" (Jan. 8, 2026). https://www.vpm.org/news/2026-01-08/rva-pedestrian-safety-avula-vision-zero-boenau-breton-martin-edwards

7. City of Richmond, Vision Zero. https://www.rva.gov/public-works/vision-zero

8. City of Richmond, Vision Zero Action Plan. https://www.rva.gov/sites/default/files/2021-05/VisionZero-RichmondActionPlan.pdf

9. WRIC 8News, "Serious crash closes Route 1 in Chesterfield County." https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/chesterfield-county/chesterfield-crash-serious-injuries/

10. WRIC 8News, "Pedestrian hit by tractor-trailer dies on I-95 in Petersburg." https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/the-tri-cities/petersburg-pedestrian-killed-tractor-trailer/

11. Virginia DOT, Richmond District projects. https://www.vdot.virginia.gov/projects/richmond-district/2/

12. Virginia DOT, "I-95/85 in Petersburg/Colonial Heights study." https://www.vdot.virginia.gov/projects/richmond-district/i-9585-in-petersburgcolonial-heights-study/

13. Virginia DOT, Fall Line Trail. https://www.vdot.virginia.gov/projects/richmond-district/fall-line-trail/

14. Code of Virginia § 46.2-371. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter3/section46.2-371/

15. Code of Virginia § 8.01-243. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title8.01/chapter4/section8.01-243/

16. Virginia DMV, Insurance Requirements. https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/insurance-requirements

17. Baskett v. Banks, 186 Va. 1022 (1947), Washington and Lee University School of Law, Virginia Supreme Court Records. https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/va-supreme-court-records-vol186/92