NoVa crash victim turned physical, emotional fight into successful legislative one

By Zoe Ligairi 

June 30, 2025

Youthcast Media Group®

Mike Doyle was halfway across the street at the four-way intersection when he heard someone shout, "Look out!" Seconds later, he was sprawled on the ground, bloody and unable to see. 

He'd been hit by a black SUV on his way home from his office in Old Town Alexandria. The force was so great, his forehead dented the front of the car.

Mike Doyle (Credit: Youthcast Media Group®).

Doyle, now 78, suffered multiple injuries from the December 2012 crash, including a broken nose, a fractured forehead, bleeding in his skull, and nerve damage in his leg; he had to have multiple surgeries.

The crash that almost killed him also changed the direction of Doyle’s life. A former investment banker, Doyle has since dedicated himself to identifying dangerous intersections throughout Northern Virginia and advocating for new laws to protect pedestrians. 

Doyle is a “fighter, very determined, [and] not willing to quit,” said Amy Cohen, who in 2014 launched the national organization Families for Safe Streets (FSS), after she lost her 12-year-old son to a collision in 2013. Doyle started a Northern Virginia chapter of FSS in 2017. 

In 2023, there were 7,314 pedestrian fatalities and 68,244 pedestrians who suffered injuries from traffic collisions nationally, according to data from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In Virginia from 2017 to 2022, 15% of car crash deaths were pedestrians — that’s 771 people.

Grueling rehab leads to new purpose

After the crash, Doyle experienced temporary paralysis, headaches, and problems with his vision, balance and concentration as a result of his neurological trauma. He was unsure that he would ever be able to work, walk or talk again. For three years, Doyle endured grueling rehab and frequent doctors' visits. 

About six months after the crash, he began thinking about what he could do to protect other pedestrians. 

“At that point, I had gone through the pity party that one naturally goes through,”  Doyle said. 

Through his anger, he started thinking, “What can we do to make this better for other people? Because it’s a nightmare.”  

Doyle learned about a Swedish pedestrian safety initiative called Vision Zero that the city of Alexandria was working to implement by 2028.

Designed around the belief that traffic injuries and deaths are preventable, Vision Zero aims to lower the number of pedestrian and cyclist traffic fatalities and severe injuries by eliminating risks. 

The program gave him a renewed focus at a time when he was finally able to become more active. At a public meeting, Doyle spoke out against the extended timeline planned for the initiative’s implementation. By sharing his story, he convinced the city of Alexandria to pass the initiative, but he was unable to leverage an earlier start date. 

Near misses and dangerous intersections

In the summer of 2017, Doyle and five of his friends visited local farmers' markets with a petition: “Implement Vision Zero Now,” where they eventually gained a total of around 1,200 signatures.

After hearing his story, many of the signatories shared their “close calls” with cars as pedestrians. The group realized there was a lot of data on potentially dangerous intersections and crossings, but it was not being captured. They began collecting the location and circumstances of those “near misses.”

Doyle and his fellow volunteers began marking their collected data on an electronic map, which over time became the Near Miss and Dangerous Locations Dashboard. The dashboard allows users to track dangerous traffic circumstances, the location of the encounter, and notes of any additional information or recommendations on how to improve that area of the road. 

The information collected from the database is crowdsourced and posted on NoVA FSS’s website. The data shows the most dangerous roads and intersections in Northern Virginia and confirms that speed-limit violations, failure to yield by drivers and distracted driving are the leading causes of serious pedestrian injury and death.

This tool inspired Doyle to found the nonprofit Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets (NoVA FSS). FSS, which takes a data-driven approach to advocacy, spreads awareness about what it calls “traffic violence” and pedestrian safety by promoting legislation. 

The group also provides support for those who have lost loved ones to crashes and those who have been seriously injured, like Doyle.

Doyle and a group of NoVA FSS volunteers focus on advocating with policymakers on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for state legislation. 

NoVA FSS operates out of the cities of Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax. Doyle hopes to attract more volunteers to help him expand and open chapters in areas with recent urbanization that have poorly designed roads, such as Hampton Roads and Richmond.

Pushing, slowly, for change 

The near-miss data is important to NoVA FFS’s fight to push for legislation in the state as it highlights the human toll of the issue. Penalties for traffic violations, which include fines and points on driver's licenses, are too low to impact most NoVa residents, Doyle said.

The Vulnerable Road User Law (SB1416), which was passed in March and takes effect in July 2025, makes infractions where failing to stop for pedestrians and cyclists lead to serious injury or death on the road a Class 1 misdemeanor. The Intelligent Speed Assistance Program or "Stop Super Speeders" bill (HB2096), passed in April, would use anti-speeding technology called Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) installed in the cars of chronic speeders to prevent them driving too fast. It will become law in July 2026 to allow the DMV to prepare for such installations. 

However, there have been some failures. The Voluntary Electronic Contribution Bill would have allowed individuals to make electronic contributions to Virginia’s road safety fund through registering at the DMV rather than by mail and The Speed Safety Camera Bill, which NoVa FSS has attempted to pass numerous times, would have place speed cameras in areas with a high number of fatalities. 

The second bill remains the highest priority for the group to pass next year as such speed cameras are the “most effective way to slow drivers down and save lives,” Doyle said.

It’s been seven years since Doyle was hit, but he knows that making change, just like recovery from the trauma of the crash, is not swift. His wife, Maureen, is still so traumatized by his crash that she grabs his elbow anytime they walk on a corner and a vehicle is approaching — even if it’s a half block away or farther. 

Doyle reminds his local lawmakers and those in the community that each action taken to improve roads and protect pedestrians saves lives and prevents others from experiencing the trauma and hardship he and his family endured after his crash. 

Change is “not something that happens overnight,” he said. “But collectively, our voices are far stronger than any one of us complaining about something.” 

Zoe Ligairi is a rising senior at Annandale High School (AHS) in Annandale, Va. AHS is one of Youthcast Media Group’s journalism class partners.