Crashes Down, Speeds Down After Lawyers Road 'Diet'

The Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) has released results of its survey about the success of the Lawyers Road diet.  The results show that crashes are down and cars are going slower since the speed limit was dropped from 45 MPH to 40 MPH.

In 2009, VDOT dropped the number of driving lanes from four two two. Now the section of road, which carries about 10,000 cars a day, has two driving lanes -  one middle lane used for left turns from both directions and two bicycle lanes.

A total of 851 people responded to the survey. Nearly 70 percent said they felt the road was safer now and 47 percent said they bicycled on Lawyers Road more often.

Bruce Wright of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling has more analysis here.