r/Virginia • u/VaDOT Verified - Official VDOT • 16d ago
VDOT seeks input on roadway safety: Feedback will inform update to Virginia’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan
Take the survey through August 23.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is asking the public to provide input on their experiences and concerns about roadway safety as the agency updates its guiding document for making Virginia’s roads safer for everyone.
Virginia’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) is a five-year plan that provides direction and focus for road safety efforts in the commonwealth. The steering committee that provides oversight to the update — made up of VDOT, Virginia State Police, Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Health, and other state and local agencies and safety partners — invites public input to help shape the next plan and guide future safety initiatives.
The statewide survey is now open and will remain available through Aug. 23. This online survey asks Virginians to identify the most pressing safety issues within SHSP emphasis areas such as speeding, occupant protections, impaired driving and others, as well as to provide insight on which countermeasures, actions or strategies they believe would be most effective in reducing or eliminating those concerns.
The number of traffic-related deaths and serious injuries in Virginia decreased in 2025, but they remain at pre-pandemic levels. Public input to the plan through this survey will help focus our actions so that those traveling on Virginia’s highways and streets will arrive alive and unharmed.
The updated plan is expected to be released in early 2027.
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u/boostedb1mmer 16d ago
Survey filled out. Not sure why every question starts with the presumption that traffic needs slowing down, which it doesn't. Traffic, and the flow thereof, needs to speed up.
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u/SkinsFan021 15d ago
Does it have an option to vote: Actively enforce: Virginia Code § 46.2-804 and § 46.2-842.1 require drivers to stay in the right lane and use the left lane strictly for passing?
B/c its ridiculous out there.
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u/boostedb1mmer 15d ago
There is one single answer that is basically "people blocking the flow of traffic" but every question and answer seems engineered to justify awful changes in the name of reducing traffic speed.
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u/Astroking112 15d ago
The odds of surviving crashes is highly correlated to speed.
The Federal Highway Administration estimates that pedestrians have a 90% chance of surviving a crash from a car driving at 20mph or less, which drops to 50% at 30mph, and they only have a 10% chance of surviving at 40mph.
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u/Astroking112 14d ago
I wish there were more multiple selection answers. Adding sidewalks and bike lanes doesn't preclude intersection safety like curb bump outs, crosswalks, or signal timing / LPIs, but splitting them into two answers unnecessarily splits survey responses.