RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh is moving ahead with a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan meant to cut the number of people killed or badly hurt on city streets, at a time when a new LendingTree report ranks the capital first for crash rate among the 50 largest cities in the country.
The LendingTree study, built on QuoteWizard insurance quote data from August 2025 through July 2026, found Raleigh drivers had 29.1 accidents for every 1,000, against a national rate of 17.9. Deaths paint a different picture in the same report: Raleigh had 32 fatal crashes in 2024, or 6.4 per 100,000 residents, ranking 42nd of the 50 cities on that measure. Most fatal crashes in the city happen on roads run by NCDOT, which tend to carry more traffic at higher speed limits than city streets, the report found.
The target is to cut crashes that kill or seriously hurt someone by 50% by 2040, with none at all by 2055. The effort pulls together police, the public school system, WakeMed, state transportation officials at NCDOT and advocacy groups. City figures show roughly 40 deaths on Raleigh roads in a typical year, and from 2019 through 2023 the city logged 185 fatal crashes along with 905 crashes that left someone seriously injured.
Engineers mapped that crash history to find a high-injury network of corridors that carry heavy volumes at higher speeds across several lanes, among them Capital, Glenwood, Western, New Bern and Saunders. People on foot, on bikes and on scooters fared far worse when they were hit.
Fixes on the list include filling sidewalk gaps, adding bike lanes and road diets that slow traffic, plus new ramps, fresher pavement markings, more signs, reflective back plates on signal heads and retimed lights. Two raised sidewalks are already in place by Broughton High School on Saint Mary’s Street, and 13 more are planned downtown in early 2028.
That downtown core runs along Fayetteville Street from the State Capitol to the Raleigh Convention Center, a corridor that reopened to cars in 2006 after decades as a pedestrian mall.
City Council adopted the plan in April, according to the city’s Vision Zero page, which lists signal upgrades for pedestrians at Capital Boulevard and Calvary Drive among the projects due to start construction this fall. The city also reports that NCDOT funded six safety projects it submitted, worth $2.5 million, over a recent 12-month stretch.
Behavior is the bigger piece, city traffic staff say. In 2023, dangerous driving played a part in 85% of fatal crashes, 71% of those killed had no seatbelt on and more than 54% of deadly wrecks involved speeding. Between 2019 and 2023, alcohol or drugs were tied to 189 fatal or serious injury crashes in the city.
Section: More Raleigh NC crime news
Filed under: Raleigh NC Traffic News
