2025 SESSION

INTRODUCED

24104943D

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 65

Offered January 10, 2024

Prefiled January 10, 2024

Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the rate of accidents that cause fatalities on roads maintained and managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation and roads maintained and managed by localities. Report.

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Patron—Shin

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Referred to Committee on Rules

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WHEREAS, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) maintains a network consisting of 57,867 center-line miles, which amounts to more than 125,000 lane miles; and

WHEREAS, this network is divided into the following categories: (i) Interstate – 1,118 miles of four-to-10 lane highways that connect states and major cities, (ii) Primary – 8,111 miles of two-to-six-lane roads that connect cities and towns with each other and with interstates, (iii) Secondary – 48,305 miles of local connector or county roads, and (iv) Frontage – 333 miles of frontage roads; and

WHEREAS, a separate road system includes 10,561 miles of urban streets that are maintained by cities and towns with the help of state funds; and

WHEREAS, data from VDOT shows that 1,005 deaths occurred on Virginia's roadways in 2022, with a total of 851 deaths occurring on non-interstate roadways; and

WHEREAS, this total number of deaths on Virginia's roadways in 2022 amounts to an increase of about 3.8 percent from 2021; and

WHEREAS, of those total number of deaths on Virginia's roadways in 2022, 171 were pedestrian fatalities, an increase of 36.8 percent over 2021; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of the Commonwealth to promote and ensure the safety of all users of its highways and roads; and

WHEREAS, such policy includes consideration of pedestrian and traffic safety issues with the objective of improving overall safety for pedestrians and drivers of all ages; and

WHEREAS, there is a need to perform a thorough analysis of the rate of accidents that cause fatalities on roads maintained and managed by VDOT and roads maintained and managed by localities; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission be directed to study the rate of accidents that cause fatalities on roads maintained and managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation and roads maintained and managed by localities.

In conducting its study, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shall examine the cause of such accidents and recommend actions to improve pedestrian and drive safety.

Technical assistance shall be provided to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission by the Virginia Department of Transportation. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission for this study, upon request.

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2024, and the chairman shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary of its findings and recommendations no later than the first day of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly. The executive summary shall state whether the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission intends to submit to the General Assembly and the Governor a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.