Even though a recent investigation revealed serious shortcomings in D.C.’s decade-long program to eliminate traffic fatalities, Arlington remains steadfast in its Vision Zero goals.

Both Arlington and D.C. have set goals to eliminate all motor vehicle fatalities and serious injuries. D.C. adopted its Vision Zero Action Plan in 2014 with the goal of achieving that by 2024, and Arlington adopted its own action plan in 2021 with a 2030 goal.

Vision Zero program manager Christine Baker told ARLnow her team is “optimistic” about the county’s chances of achieving zero critical incidents within the next six years, thanks to a range of initiatives and interdepartmental collaboration.

“Vision Zero is a community effort,” she said. “By working together and creating an ongoing dialogue about safety, we see the program’s impact deepen.”

If Arlington — a city that already has one of the lowest traffic fatality rates in the country — can achieve that, its Vision Zero project will be significantly different from its counterpart across the river.

The Washington Post reports that the number of road fatalities in the District of Columbia is not decreasing; in fact, it has increased over the past decade, reaching a 16-year high: 52 people died last year.

Meanwhile, in Arlington, the number of crashes resulting in death or serious injury has fluctuated since the county adopted its Vision Zero Action Plan.

Initially, the number of critical accidents dropped from 65 in 2021 to 53 in 2022, according to county data. But last year, the number increased, with 65 accidents resulting in serious injuries and six deaths.

The first six months of this year were relatively safe for Arlington residents, with 19 serious injury crashes and one fatal traffic accident. That’s below the 12-year average of 24.2 serious injury crashes and 2.3 fatal injury crashes from January through June.

Baker highlighted the numerous initiatives the county has undertaken as part of Vision Zero. They include:

“Through these and other safety initiatives, we are working hard to achieve our goal of zero,” Baker said. “We also rely heavily on partners like Arlington Public Schools and our external stakeholders to help expand the program’s reach into the community.”

But the program manager noted that many serious crashes are caused by “unpredictable behavior,” such as drinking and driving or speeding — and engineering alone can’t always change that.

“To address these behavioral issues, we organize our Critical Incident Mitigation Campaign with a different theme each month that is identified based on critical incident patterns,” she said. “We try to meet people where they are in the community to spread awareness through pop-up events with handouts and resources.”

The Vision Zero Action Plan is tentatively scheduled for 2025.