D.C. pedestrian deaths rise amid inadequate auto insurance

Washington, D.C., should be a walker’s paradise. From the White House to the Ukrainian Embassy on M Street in Georgetown — once the home of Supreme Court litigant Joseph Marbury — history can be found on nearly every block. But are these historic streets truly safe to pedestrians?

A decade ago, Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged that pedestrian deaths would no longer define our city, launching numerous local initiatives under the banner “Vision Zero.” Yet, instead of declining, traffic fatalities have surged, with pedestrians bearing the brunt of this failure.

The number of traffic fatalities has risen in all but two years since the initiative, with pedestrians having accounted for about 40% of overall traffic fatalities in D.C. With 2024 in its waning quarter, a Washington Post analysis shows that we are on track to match last year’s 52 traffic deaths, a sad and unconscionable high-water mark. 

And while we can debate the strategy and prospects of Vision Zero — as many have done, the D.C. Council can significantly, and immediately, improve the outlook for victims who are seriously injured on city streets by bringing auto insurance coverage in the District up to modern times. 

Washington, D.C., set its auto insurance minimums in 1986. For context, back then a Metro fare cost 80 cents. The average car cost about $8,000 and you could buy a home for about $90,000. These prices have risen dramatically since the ’80s, but the $25,000 insurance minimum D.C. drivers are required to carry has not. This has led to the double tragedy many crash victims experience: the serious injuries inflicted during the crash itself, followed by crushing medical debt resulting from woefully inadequate insurance coverage. 

Adjusted for inflation, $25,000 in 1986 is now equivalent to over $71,000. Yet, while the cost of everything else has risen, minimum insurance coverage remains frozen at 1986 levels, leaving many crash victims severely under-protected. The economic cost of motor vehicle crashes in D.C. exceeds $830 million annually. Of that, only 54% of these costs are paid by insurance companies. Crash victims end up paying over $191 million out of their own pockets and looking for help from D.C. government, taxpayers, healthcare providers and even local charities.

That’s why Virginia, which didn’t even require drivers to carry auto insurance until July of this year, voted to increase minimums to $50,000 per person starting Jan. 1, 2025.

Contrary to what you might reasonably expect, an analysis of industry data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) shows that raising minimums does not lead to higher premiums for consumers. In fact, states that raised their minimums actually saw a lower annual increase in insurance cost — 1.47% on average — than the country as a whole at 1.95%. With traffic deaths falling disproportionately on lower-income and majority-Black neighborhoods in Wards 7 and 8, increasing insurance coverage would protect—not penalize—our city’s most vulnerable communities.

As we observe National Pedestrian Safety Month this October, now is the time for the Council to take meaningful action that will protect our most vulnerable residents. As the broader goals of Vision Zero remain elusive, we must do whatever we can to address the immediate needs of those injured on our streets. Raising auto insurance coverage is a straightforward, common-sense reform that would prevent victims from facing financial ruin after a crash. It’s time for the Council to set a hearing date on bill 25-810, prioritize this issue, and ensure that all D.C. residents have the protection they deserve. Victims of auto crashes can’t afford to wait another year.

Traci Lee Buschner is the managing partner of Guttman, Buschner & Brooks PLLC and president of the DC Trial Lawyers Association (DCTLA), the organization representing plaintiff’s trial lawyers in the D.C., Virginia and Maryland metropolitan area.