Hampton Roads Has the Highest Motor Vehicle Crash and Injury Rates in Virginia

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According to the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) Regional Safety Study, Hampton Roads had the highest motor vehicle crash rate of any metropolitan area in Virginia with 1.87 crashes per million vehicle-miles of travel. This was ahead of the Roanoke Valley with 1.70, and Richmond with 1.63. Hampton Roads also had, by a considerable margin, the highest injury rate for any Virginia metropolitan area. Hampton Roads had 1.18 injuries per million vehicle-miles of travel. Richmond had 0.72, followed by the Roanoke Valley with 0.66.

Hampton Roads Motor Vehicle Crash and Injury Rates

• In Hampton Roads, Hampton had the highest crash rate with 2.86 crashes per million vehicle-miles of travel, followed by Portsmouth (2.72), Poquoson (2.44), Norfolk (2.34) and Virginia Beach (2.25). Southampton had the lowest crash rate at 0.54, followed by Gloucester County (0.98) and then Chesapeake (1.02).
• Poquoson had the highest injury rate with 3.06 injuries per million vehicle-miles of travel, followed by Hampton (2.99) and Portsmouth (1.94).
• The lowest crash injury rates were in Southampton County (0.42), Isle of Wight County (0.54), York County (0.54), Gloucester County (0.60) and Chesapeake (0.65)

Most Dangerous Hampton Roads Freeways for Crashes and Injuries

• In terms of freeway crashes from 2017 to 2021, the study found that the I-64 Norfolk corridor going Eastbound from Northampton Boulevard. to I-264 had the highest number of crashes (1175) and the highest crash rate (399.4 crashes per 100 million vehicle-miles of travel).
• The I-264 westbound corridor in Norfolk from I-64 to Newtown Road was in second place with 389 crashes and a crash rate of 366.4.
• As for Chesapeake, the most dangerous highway section was I-64 Eastbound from Battlefield Boulevard to I-464 with 286 crashes and a crash rate of 253.3.

Most Dangerous Hampton Roads Intersections for Crashes and Injuries

• As for crashes at street intersections, Mercury Boulevard and Power Plant Parkway/Todds Lane in Hampton had the highest number of crashes from 2017 to 2021 with 267.
• In second place was Mercury Boulevard and Coliseum Drive (226) in Hampton, followed by Jefferson Avenue and J Clyde Morris Boulevard in Newport News (195), Mercury and Armistead Boulevard in Hampton (181) and then Indian River Road and Kempsville Road in Virginia Beach (179).
• The intersection of Roanoke Avenue and 48^th Street in Newport News has the highest crash rate per 100 million vehicles entering at 488.91, followed by Copeland Road and Manning Road in Suffolk (400.25), Armistead Avenue and LaSalle Avenue in Hampton (226.40), Woodland Road and County Street in Hampton (212.20), and Smiths Neck Road and Route 665 (Reynolds Drive) in Isle of Wight County (202.57)

Most Dangerous Chesapeake Intersections for Crashes and Injuries

• The intersection of Battlefield Boulevard and Woodlake Drive/Debraun Avenue had the highest number of crashes from 2017 to 2021 with 69.
• In second place was the intersection of Greenbrier Parkway and Eden Way (59), followed by Battlefield Boulevard and Great Bridge Boulevard/Kempsville Road (52), Battlefield Boulevard and Volvo Parkway (52) and George Washington Highway and Miltary Highway (51).
• The intersections with the highest crash frequency were Ballahack Road and Bunch Walnuts Road with 146.20 crashes per 100 million vehicles entering, followed by Military Highway and Galberry Road (135.30), and Mount Pleasant Road and Centerville Turnpike (92.35).

If you have been injured in a motor vehicle crash in the Hampton Roads area, contact Bordegaray Injury Law PLLC at 757-505-HURT (4878) or go to our Contact Us page to schedule a free consultation.

1. “Westbound lanes in the tunnel portion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, connecting Norfolk, Virginia and Hampton, Virginia” by Ben Schumin, image compressed for blog, is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. ↩︎