Richmond ranks 21st for road safety, but risks remain

Richmond ranks among the safer U.S. metros for speed-based pedestrian risk, according to new StreetLight data.

Why it matters: That doesn't necessarily mean it's safe to walk here, per the report. The metric captures only where people actually walk — not where they're afraid to.

What they're saying: "There may be places where unsafe conditions dissuade people from traveling via foot, bike, or transit, thus lowering fatality rates but not accurately reflecting safety conditions," the report states.

State of play: This caveat is significant in the Richmond area, where recent pedestrian deaths have drawn sustained community concern and the causes for those fatalities, per police, have not always been speed-related.

• For example: Police charged the dump truck driver who hit and killed a man crossing West Leigh Street in January with failure to stop for a pedestrian.
• The driver who hit and killed a woman in a crosswalk on East Cary Street in February was charged with felony hit-and-run.
• The principal at Franklin Military Academy is recovering after a driver hit him near Lucille Brown Middle School in South Richmond this month, and police charged the driver with failure to yield.

Meanwhile, Richmond ranks 21st out of 100 U.S. metros for road safety, according to StreetLight's U.S. Safe Streets Index.

• That's higher than other Southern cities like Atlanta (77th), Charlotte (69th) and Nashville (90th), but lower than Virginia Beach (19th) and the D.C. and NoVa area (12th).

How it works: The index ranked metros based on five factors: how much people drive, how much drivers' speeds vary on the same roads, how fast traffic moves in pedestrian corridors, truck activity and residential speeding.

• StreetLight pulled in "billions of data points from connected vehicles, mobile devices, sensors" and more.

By the numbers: Richmond came in at 22nd for how drivers' speeds vary and 23rd for speed-based pedestrian risk, which measures how often people are walking on busy roads where cars travel 30 mph or faster.

• The region ranks 32nd for residential speeding and 41st for how much people drive.
• Its weak spot: truck activity, where it ranks 60th, likely due to the region's position along I-95 — an active freight route.

Between the lines: Heavier vehicles, more cars on the road and higher speeds can increase danger for residents who aren't driving.

The bottom line: The data says metro Richmond is doing relatively well, but what road safety looks and feels like for residents is a much more complicated story.