Henrico Crash Tracker: County witnessed 453 traffic crashes in May; 49 on West Broad Street
Henrico County recorded 453 reportable traffic crashes during May, including four fatal crashes and 12 that resulted in serious injuries, according to an analysis of preliminary Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles crash data.
The May total was 3.9% higher than the same month last year, when Henrico recorded 436 crashes, according to Henrico Police's annual traffic report.
In all, 322 people were injured and four were killed in crashes in the county this May, the most recent month for which such data is available. Of the 453 crashes, 211 – nearly 47% – resulted in at least one injury or death, while 242 involved property damage only.
By the numbers
The May data included eight pedestrian-involved crashes, four bicycle-involved crashes and 65 hit-and-run crashes. Fifty-one crashes were flagged as involving distracted driving, 31 as speed-related and 26 as alcohol-related.
In some cases, those categories overlap, and they do not necessarily establish the cause of a crash.
West Broad Street recorded the most crashes
West Broad Street witnessed more crashes than any other named roadway in the county during May, with 49.
Interstate 64 was second with 37 crashes, followed by Interstate 295 with 24, Interstate 95 with 15 and North Parham Road with 12.
Because the figures are raw crash totals and aren't adjusted for the length of each road or the amount of traffic each carries, they cannot necessarily be interpreted as rankings of Henrico's most dangerous roads.
The concentration along West Broad continues a longer-term pattern in Henrico. Six of the county's 10 locations with the most reportable crashes in 2025 were intersections along West Broad Street.
West Broad at John Rolfe Parkway led the county last year with 35 crashes. Other West Broad intersections in the top 10 were those at Tom Leonard Drive, Dominion Boulevard, Gaskins Road, Parham Road, Pouncey Tract Road/Pump Road and Libbie Avenue.
West Broad also is among the corridors identified in Henrico's broader traffic-safety planning as having significant concentrations of fatal and serious-injury crashes.
Crash locations to watch
A geographic analysis of the coordinates associated with May's crashes identified several places where multiple crashes occurred within approximately 75 meters of one another.
Among the intersections that could be verified from the crash records were West Broad Street at Hungary Spring Road, where three crashes occurred during the month, and Staples Mill Road at Bremner Boulevard, which also had three.
Several other locations contained clusters of four to six crashes, though their exact intersection boundaries require additional verification before they can reliably be identified by name.
Four fatal crashes
Four people were killed in Henrico crashes during May, according to the crash data.
The fatal crashes occurred on New Market Road, Woodman Road, Route 33 and West Broad Street. Two involved pedestrians.
The May 4 New Market Road crash was a head-on collision in Eastern Henrico.
One of the month's pedestrian deaths occurred May 23 along West Broad Street near Willard Road. Sixteen-year-old J.R. Tucker High School student Joshua Driver was killed in what police alleged was a DUI hit-and-run. Police arrested 41-year-old John Daniel Bruehl and charged him with hit-and-run and driving under the influence.
Friday, afternoons produced the most crashes
Friday was the busiest day of the week for crashes during May, with 107.
The period from 3 p.m. through 5:59 p.m. also accounted for 107 crashes, the most of any three-hour period analyzed.
Of the May crashes, 229 occurred on roads classified in the state data as being under county highway agency ownership, while 222 occurred on roads classified under state highway agency ownership. Two others had different ownership classifications.
Unlike most Virginia counties, Henrico maintains many of its secondary roads itself, while VDOT maintains interstates and various primary and state routes.
What we'll be watching
Future Henrico Traffic Crash Reports will track repeat crash locations, emerging hot spots, fatal and serious-injury crashes, pedestrian and bicycle crashes, and trends involving speed, distraction, alcohol and hit-and-run crashes.
They also will compare each month's results with previous months and the same month a year earlier as sufficient historical data becomes available.
Henrico's own long-term analysis found that 75% of its fatal and serious-injury crashes occurred on just 8% of its roadway mileage during the period studied for its Arrive Alive safety plan.
The May data is preliminary and may be revised as additional crash information is processed.
Henrico Crash Tracker is a monthly feature examining Henrico crash data from the Virginia Department of Transportation.