Pedestrian and bicycle crash hotspots in Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads was built for cars. Wide arterials like Jefferson Avenue, Virginia Beach Boulevard, Independence Boulevard and Tidewater Drive move heavy traffic past bus stops, apartment complexes and shopping centers where people still cross on foot every day. When a driver and someone walking meet on one of those roads, the person on foot almost always loses.

The scale is real. Hampton Roads recorded 24,712 crashes in 2022, and 162 people died in them.¹ The Virginia DMV ranks this region, behind Northern Virginia, among the parts of the state where pedestrian deaths cluster most.²

The regional picture

Virginia DMV figures compiled for Hampton Roads show 311 pedestrian-involved crashes in 2022, 38 of them fatal, and a preliminary 364 pedestrian crashes in 2023 that killed 30 people.³ Crashes went up while deaths dipped slightly, but both numbers sit well above where local planners want them.

Statewide, the trend is worse. The Virginia State Crime Commission reviewed six years of DMV data and found 771 pedestrians were killed on Virginia roads between 2017 and 2022, about 15% of all traffic deaths, along with 74 bicyclists.⁴ Pedestrian deaths jumped from 114 in 2020 to 171 in 2022, a 50% rise in two years.⁴ Virginia's pedestrian death rate climbed from 1.44 per 100,000 residents in 2019 to 1.97 in 2022, then eased to 1.43 by 2024.⁵

The pattern behind those deaths is consistent. VDOT's analysis of 2018 to 2022 crash data found that roughly one in three pedestrians hit by a driver was killed or seriously injured, that most deaths happened after dark at or near intersections, and that 82% occurred on urban roads.⁴ About a quarter of pedestrian deaths happened within 150 feet of a bus stop, and half within 500 feet.⁴ People between 50 and 69 were killed out of proportion to their share of the population.⁴

Jefferson Avenue in Newport News

If one road defines the problem here, it's Jefferson Avenue. WAVY-TV counted 13 pedestrians killed by traffic along Jefferson Avenue since the start of 2022, one of the highest tolls of any street in the region.⁶ Jefferson is a long, fast, multi-lane arterial (Route 143) lined with businesses and transit stops, the exact profile VDOT keeps flagging. Fatal crashes have hit near cross streets such as Ivy Farms Road.⁷

VDOT has a STARS study (Strategically Targeted Affordable Roadway Solutions) underway on Jefferson Avenue between Oyster Point Road (Route 171) and J. Clyde Morris Boulevard (Route 17), meant to pin down safety fixes for the state's six-year improvement program.⁸ A second study is examining Bland Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue farther north, between Warwick Boulevard and Denbigh Boulevard.⁸

Virginia Beach's boulevards

Virginia Beach carries the heaviest pedestrian crash load in the region. The city's Road Safety Action Plan counted 320 crashes involving pedestrians on city streets from 2018 to 2022.⁹ Independence Boulevard and Virginia Beach Boulevard come up again and again. On Independence, a 29-year-old was struck and killed in the 2200 block near Princess Anne Road in August 2025,¹⁰ and back in 2020 two people crossing at Independence and Broad Street were hit and killed.¹⁰

Shore Drive, running along the Chesapeake Bay, has a long record of fatal crashes. The city's Shore Drive Phase III project is rebuilding the corridor with eight-foot sidewalks, on-street bike lanes and better lighting, with work expected to wrap around 2028.¹¹ Virginia Beach has also installed a HAWK beacon, a pedestrian-activated crossing signal, where the Cape Henry Trail meets traffic near Great Neck Road.¹¹

Norfolk's corridors

Norfolk tracks its own crashes in detail. The city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Strategic Plan logged 87 bicycle-involved crashes along its priority corridors between 2020 and 2024, with the Downtown to Old Dominion University to Naval Station connector alone accounting for 24 of them.¹² People who walk, bike or ride transit are about 8% of Norfolk commuters, yet they were involved in roughly 28% of the city's fatal and serious-injury crashes in 2024.¹² That year Norfolk recorded 136 fatal or serious-injury crashes, and 104 of them, 65%, happened at intersections.¹² Tidewater Drive and East Little Creek Road, two of the city's busiest arterials, have logged repeated pedestrian and cyclist injuries.

Why the same roads keep coming up

The corridors that keep surfacing share a design. They're wide, they carry fast traffic, and they were laid out to push vehicles through, which leaves long gaps between safe crossings and drops bus stops right beside moving lanes. Speed makes everything worse. The Crime Commission tied a 39% increase in speed-related traffic deaths between 2017 and 2022 to the broader rise in fatalities.⁴ So does darkness, since most of Virginia's pedestrian deaths happen at night.²

What to do if you're hit

If a driver hits you or someone in your family, call 911 and make sure a police report gets written. Those reports feed the DMV data these safety plans depend on. See a doctor even if you feel fine, because serious injuries can hide behind adrenaline for hours. If you can do it safely, photograph the scene, the crosswalk, the signals and any vehicle damage, and get names and numbers from witnesses. Hold on to every medical bill and record.

Fault in a Virginia pedestrian case is often contested. Virginia is one of the few states that still applies contributory negligence, a rule that can block your recovery if you're found even slightly at fault, so exactly where and how you were crossing can decide the case. If you want to understand your options, you can start with the legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization, Roadway Safety and the Hampton Roads Regional Safety Study. https://hrtpo.org/444/Roadway-Safety

2. Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Pedestrian Safety Frequently Asked Questions. https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/safety/programs/pedestrians/faqs

3. WTKR News 3, "Pedestrian-car crashes rise nationally, including in Hampton Roads" (Virginia DMV data). https://www.wtkr.com/news/in-the-community/virginia-beach/pedestrian-car-crashes-rise-what-the-problem-looks-like-in-hampton-roads

4. Virginia State Crime Commission, "Motor Vehicle, Pedestrian, and Bicyclist Fatalities," 2023 Annual Report. https://vscc.virginia.gov/Annual%20Reports/2023%20VSCC%20Annual%20Report-%20Motor%20Vehicle%20Pedestrian%20and%20Bicylists%20Fatalities.pdf

5. Governors Highway Safety Association, "Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2024 Preliminary Data" (July 2025). https://www.ghsa.org/sites/default/files/2025-07/Pedestrian%20Traffic%20Fatalities%20by%20State%20-%202024%20Data%20-%207.10.25.pdf

6. WAVY-TV 10, "Watching where you walk: Experts see surge in pedestrian fatalities across Hampton Roads." https://www.wavy.com/news/investigative/watching-where-you-walk-experts-see-surge-in-pedestrian-fatalities-across-hampton-roads/

7. 13News Now, "Pedestrian fatally struck on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News." https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/newport-news/jefferson-avenue-ivy-farms-road-newport-news-pedestrian-hit/291-e8fd3f1a-763d-4920-974f-288860c61314

8. Virginia Department of Transportation, STARS Jefferson Avenue (Route 143) Corridor Study. https://www.vdot.virginia.gov/projects/hampton-roads-district/stars-jefferson-avenue-route-143-corridor-study/

9. City of Virginia Beach Public Works, Road Safety Action Plan. https://pw.virginiabeach.gov/roads/road-safety-action-plan

10. 13News Now, "Man hit by driver dies after crash on Independence Boulevard in Virginia Beach" and "Pedestrians killed in Virginia Beach in crosswalk." https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/crime/man-hit-by-driver-dies-after-crash-on-independence-boulevard-in-virginia-beach/291-746bc342-7e95-4356-a504-0c56a330ca0e

11. City of Virginia Beach Public Works, Shore Drive Phase III. https://pw.virginiabeach.gov/roads/transportation-projects/shore-drive-phase-3

12. City of Norfolk, "Data: How are we doing?" and the Norfolk Bicycle and Pedestrian Strategic Plan. https://www.norfolk.gov/5092/Data-How-are-we-doing