Serious Pedestrian Accidents In Alexandria Have This In Common, Police Say

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Beware the left turn, Lieutenant Nick Lion with the Alexandria Police Department's Traffic Safety Section tells Patch.

Lion spoke to Patch Thursday about a series of pedestrian accidents in the city in recent weeks and what 5 years' worth of such crashes have in common. Though April and May saw some high-profile and tragic crashes, including one involving a child and one that killed a 62-year-old woman, in terms of sheer crash numbers, the city is at normal levels.

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“Unfortunately, we are within a threshold,” Lion said. “We had a two-week spate there that was higher than normal, but … the last couple weeks have returned to normal,” he said.

In 2024 and 2025, the city saw large increases in pedestrian crashes, which Lion attributes at least in part to return-to-work mandates that put more people back on the road. Car accidents involving pedestrians or bikes dropped every year between 2019 and 2022, hitting a low of 41 that year. But they rose to 46 in 2023, and then to 63 crashes in 2024 and 60 in 2025.

So what’s causing these accidents, other than the volume of traffic? Lion reviewed trends over 5 years of data collected from accident reports. Alcohol? Not a factor. Speed? Not a factor. Distracted driving, cell phones? Not a factor, at least according to accident statements.

The through-line among serious crashes? Drivers turning left.

“What we do find is that our most serious pedestrian-related crashes … are when drivers are making left-hand turns,” Lion reveals. “What they do is they clear oncoming traffic to make their left-hand turn, but they never look into the intersection where they're going. Then, typically, drivers occasionally will have their windshield pillar [in their sight line] as well. So they sometimes never even see the pedestrian there because number one, they haven't looked, and number two, they haven't really looked around that part of their windshield,” which can hide a pedestrian in front of them.

Alexandria cops are taking a three-pronged approach to traffic safety. They’re working with city authorities to make sure areas are safely designed. They’re out writing tickets to make drivers think twice before, say, speeding to make it through a yellow light.

But really, when we’re getting ready to gun it left to beat oncoming traffic, it’s a moment of simple awareness that could be the difference between life and death.

“Our campaign now is see and be seen,” Lion says. “We want drivers to see pedestrians and bicyclists and we want pedestrians and bicyclists to be seen. And if that means that you have the right of way and you have to stop to let somebody go through, let's put our egos aside and be safe about it and avoid a tragedy that's avoidable.”