Fairfax County police are investigating a crash that killed a 14-year-old girl Wednesday evening as traffic safety advocates worry about the increase in crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists.
The teen, who attended Lake Braddock Secondary School, was trying to cross Old Keene Road to return to the Pohick Regional Library, after grabbing a snack from a shopping center. As she stepped into the westbound lanes near the intersection of Old Keene and Sydenstricker Roads, she was struck by a vehicle and later died at a hospital.
She was not in the crosswalk, and the driver remained at the scene.
The teen's death becomes the 20th pedestrian or cyclist fatality in Fairfax County so far this year, double the number killed last year.
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“The numbers are going in the wrong direction,” said Chris French from Fairfax Families for Safe Streets.
Pedestrian- and bicyclist-involved crashes steadily increased in the county each year from 2020, French said.
There have been 211 pedestrian-involved crashes leading to injury in Fairfax County this year, French said. That's down from last year’s count of 237 and up from 134 in 2020.
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Crashes involving cyclists are increasing, too.
“Those serious injuries are injuries that send people to the hospital in an ambulance with physical injuries, mental, emotional injuries, financial injuries, and yet we don’t talk about those a lot,” French said.
Drivers and pedestrians need to be mindful when it’s dark, especially during the winter, because a “significant” percentage of crashes involving pedestrians occur during dusk or in the dark, French said.
Lake Braddock Secondary School made crisis team members, psychologists, social workers and counselors available to students Friday.
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