When a road has changes in width, speed limit and curvature, it can be very dangerous for drivers under all kinds of conditions. When I first moved to Franklin Farms in the 1980s, my late friend and Virginia Delegate Bernie Cohen remarked as to how often he had seen helicopters taking injured people from crashes on West Oaks Road to the INOVA Fairfax Hospital. In the years since, there have been road improvements, road widening, and the installation of several traffic lights to slow drivers down. However, the addition of the overpass over Route 50, the proximity to Fair Oaks Mall and the Fairfax County Parkway, and the explosion in housing along this corridor that heads into Lawyers Road heading North and Reston Parkway, has led to a number of serious crashes. There is even a Virginia Supreme Court case where five motorists where involved “daisy chain automobile accident” when a trash disposal company truck smashed into a line of stopped traffic at about three in the afternoon. (AAA Disposal Services, Inc. & Aragon-Campos vs. Eckert)

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Last Thursday, February 25, 2021, West Ox Road was closed to vehicular traffic in the vicinity of the Franklin Oaks neighborhood, between the Fairfax County Parkway and the split where West Ox Road becomes Lawyers Road. Fire trucks and a heavy police presence required motorists to find another way to get home if they lived in this portion of Oak Hill. This these neighborhood used to be part of Herndon, but when the Oak Hill post office was opened, it was given a new name. Interestingly, when I first moved to this part of Northern Virginia, are used to push the jogging stroller with my kids to see the horses in the small farms along this part of West Ox Road. Those small farms eventually gave way to the neighborhoods on either side of this portion of roadway,  like Franklin Oaks, Ashburton Oaks, Timber Woods and others in Oakton High School neighborhoods.

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Whether the cause of the most recent emergency was distracted driving, excessive speed, improper lane change, or simply a failure to “yield the right of way,” it nevertheless reminds us to be careful on this particular road, as it passes by Navy Elementary School, and has a long history of unfortunate crashes. So, if you drive on West Ox Road, please be careful. It’s not an easy road to drive on. The Yield sign when the road splits going South-bound at Lawyers is a particularly tough part of the road. Members of the Reston Bike Club are especially careful going from Dower House Road in Franklin Farms on West Ox Road, toward Franklin Corner. The road is only one lane in each direction, with no shoulder, blind turns and a steep rise. I have seen accidents along this stretch of road and it is one of my wife’s least favorite parts of the route when biking with friends.

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Please use extra caution on West Ox Road. It’s a tough road.

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If you or someone you know or care for has been injured as the result of a car, truck, bicycle or motorcycle crash and there are questions about what laws apply, e-mail or call us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. (703-796-9555) at once.