Transportation Performance Management

State Highway Safety Report (2021) - District of Columbia

The following provides a summary of the Highway Safety Improvement Program's (HSIP) safety performance measures and State safety performance targets. As per the Safety PM Final Rule, States are required to set annual safety performance targets in the HSIP annual report for the number of fatalities, rate of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT), number of serious injuries, rate of serious injures per 100 million VMT, and number of non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries. The safety performance targets are based on 5-year rolling averages. States have the flexibility to use the methodology they deem most appropriate when establishing safety performance targets. FHWA encourages States to review data sets and trends and consider factors that may affect targets. The safety performance targets should be data-driven, realistic, and attainable and should align with the performance management framework and legislative intent.

A State Department of Transportation (DOT) has met or made significant progress towards meeting its safety performance targets when at least four of the five safety performance targets established under 23 CFR 490.209(a) have been met or the actual outcome is better than the baseline performance. The baseline performance is the 5-year average ending with the year prior to the establishment of the target.

The Basis for Target and Additional Comments are provided by the State in their HSIP Annual Report and have not been edited by FHWA. Any questions about individual State reports should be directed to the respective State DOT. For additional information about each State's HSIP, the complete reports are available at https://highways.dot.gov/safety/hsip/reporting.

More information and resources on Safety Performance Management are available at https://highways.dot.gov/safety/hsip/spm/safety-performance-management-safety-pm-overview.

All State data used to populate the State Highway Safety Reports for 2021 are available for download at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tpm/reporting/state/tpm_dashboard_data.zip.

• 

  Number of Fatalities

• Number of Fatalities	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	23	27	31	31	23	36	41
  5-Year Average					27.0	29.6	32.4
  Target (5-Year Average)							30.0	29.0	27.0

• Basis for Number of Fatalities Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  Traffic fatalities have been on an upward trend since 2012 (15) to 2018 (31). However, preliminary data indicate that 2019 traffic fatalities are lower at 27 persons. Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.99), the District has the 2021 goal to maintain the 5-year rolling average (2017–2021) of 30 by December 31, 2021, which is approximately 10 percent less than the fatality annual trend.

  Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.99), the District has the 2022 goal to maintain the number of fatalities at 29 by December 31, 2022, approximately decrease by 7 (19 percent) from the 2020 total **Please note that the HSP Performance Target prepopulated here does not reflect the 2022 target.

  Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.99), the District has the 2023 goal to maintain the number of fatalities at 27 by December 31, 2023

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Fatalities: 2015-2020 Final FARS, 2021 FARS Annual Report File
  Targets: 2020-2022 District of Columbia HSIP Annual Reports

• 

  Fatality Rate (per 100 million VMT)

• Fatality Rate (per 100 million VMT)	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	0.65	0.75	0.83	0.84	0.61	1.19	1.26
  5-Year Average					0.736	0.844	0.946
  Target (5-Year Average)							0.810	1.070	0.720

• Basis for Fatality Rate Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  With the increase in fatalities, population, worker trips, tourist visits, VMT, nonmotorized trips, and other trip-making activities in the District, exposure is expected to increase. Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.99), the District 2021 goal would be to maintain the 5-year rolling average (2017–2021) of 0.81 by December 31, 2021 (a reduction of approximately 10 percent from the fatality rate trend).

  With the increase in fatalities, population, worker trips, tourist visits, VMT, nonmotorized trips, and other trip-making activities in the District, exposure is expected to increase. Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.99), the District 2022 goal would be to maintain the fatality rate to 1.07. **Please note that the HSP Performance Target prepopulated here does not reflect the 2022 target.

  Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.99), the District 2022 goal would be to maintain the fatality rate to 0.72 by December 31, 2023.

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Fatalities: 2015-2020 Final FARS, 2021 FARS Annual Report File
  VMT: 2015-2021 FHWA Highway Statistics Series, VM-2 Table
  Targets: 2020-2022 District of Columbia HSIP Annual Reports

• 

  Number of Serious Injuries

• Number of Serious Injuries	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	337	391	382	364	352	354	423
  5-Year Average					365.2	368.6	375.0
  Target (5-Year Average)							365.0	343.0	319.0

• Basis for Number of Serious Injuries Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  Serious injuries have decreased slightly since 2016, from at a high of 391. However, all trends indicate a slight increase in future years. Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.97), the District 2021 goal would be to reduce the number of traffic-related serious injuries by 2 percent from the 5-year rolling average (2017–2021) of 372 to 365 by December 31, 2021.

  Serious injuries have consistently decreased since 2016. Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.97), the District 2022 goal would be to reduce the number of traffic-related serious injuries to 343, approximate decrease by 11 (3 percent) from the 2020 total. **Please note that the HSP Performance Target prepopulated here does not reflect the 2022 target.

  Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.97), the District 2023 goal would be to keep the number of traffic-related serious injuries to 319.

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Serious Injuries: 2022 District Of Columbia HSIP Annual Report
  Targets: 2020-2022 District Of Columbia HSIP Annual Reports

• 

  Rate of Serious Injuries (per 100 million VMT)

• Rate of Serious Injuries (per 100 million VMT)	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	9.47	10.80	10.28	9.86	9.37	11.68	13.02
  5-Year Average					9.956	10.398	10.842
  Target (5-Year Average)							9.860	9.110	8.500

• Basis for Serious Injury Rate Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  The Serious Injury Rate performance target follows anticipated trends in the number of serious injuries. Serious injuries have decreased slightly since 2016, from at a high of 391. However, all trends indicate a slight increase in future years. Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.97), the District 2021 goal would be to reduce the number of traffic-related serious injuries by 2 percent from the 5-year rolling average (2017–2021) of 372 to 365 by December 31, 2021.

  The Serious Injury Rate performance target follows anticipated trends in the number of serious injuries. Serious injuries have decreased slightly since 2019. However, all trends indicate a slight increase in future years. Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.97), the District 2022 goal will be to reduce the serious injury rate to 9.11.

  Using the 5-year rolling average and a power model (R2 = 0.97), the District 2023 goal will be to reduce the serious injury rate to 8.5.

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Serious Injuries: 2022 District of Columbia HSIP Annual Report
  VMT: 2015-2021 FHWA Highway Statistics Series, VM-2 Table
  Targets: 2020-2022 District of Columbia HSIP Annual Reports

• 

  Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries

• Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	133	150	159	161	154	115	152
  5-Year Average					151.4	147.8	148.2
  Target (5-Year Average)							165.0	133.0	143.0

• Basis for Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  In the District of Columbia, Nonmotorists account for a majority of traffic fatalities and a significant proportion of serious injures. Anticipated trends in the Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries reflect increasing pedestrian and bicycle activity, which increase exposure to crashes, as well as efforts by the District to implement strategies to reduce the numbers of fatal and serious injuries.

  In the District of Columbia, Nonmotorists account for a majority of traffic fatalities and a significant proportion of serious injures. Anticipated trends in the Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries reflect increasing pedestrian and bicycle activity, which increase exposure to crashes, as well as efforts by the District to implement strategies to reduce the number of fatal and serious injuries. The District's goal for 2022 is to keep the number of non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries to 133 by December 31st, 2022

  In the District of Columbia, Non-motorists account for a majority of traffic fatalities and a significant proportion of serious injuries. The District's goal for 2023 is to keep the number of non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries to 143 by December 31st, 2023.

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Fatalities: 2015-2020 Final FARS, 2021 FARS Annual Report File
  Serious Injuries: 2022 District of Columbia HSIP Annual Report
  Targets: 2020-2022 District of Columbia HSIP Annual Reports

Additional Comments

N/A

Safety Performance Target Assessment

PLEASE NOTE: Each State’s safety performance target assessment is based on its own State-specific target methodology and program philosophy. Therefore, conclusions should not be drawn based only on the information in the Safety Performance Target Assessment Summary table. For example, the State may have set aggressive targets, and not met those targets, while another State may have set more easily attainable targets, and met those targets. FHWA understands that each State’s safety program is unique and therefore does not prescribe a methodology for States to set targets. States have the flexibility to use the methodology they deem most appropriate when setting their safety performance targets.