Photo by Philliefan99.

Following a year when it seems, at least to me, that there has been increased reporting on traffic-related accidents – so far the District has had fewer fatalities in 2010 than in 2009. In fact, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says that traffic deaths in the District have decreased by 54 percent in the last 2 years. Twelve pedestrians have died so far this year, down from 14 this time last year.

Yet, this doesn’t paint the full picture of traffic safety in the District. Just because there are fewer deaths doesn’t meant that there are fewer accidents and injuries. Further, the fatalities MPD reports are just pedestrians, they don’t take bicyclists into account. I wasn’t able to find more data on how many pedestrians or bicyclists have been injured in the District this year, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out those numbers haven’t gone down. You can check out this 134-page DDOT report about traffic safety in D.C. from 2007 to 2009 to get an idea of the trends. The number of bicyclist and pedestrians involved in traffic accidents has trended up in from 2007 to 2009.

To read about the many pedestrians and bicyclists who are injured in the District, read Struck in DC.