Pushing for Safe Streets to Reduce Record Traffic Deaths​

On Sunday, November 17, 2024, dozens of communities across the country commemorate World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDoR), pressing leaders to take measures to reduce the record numbers of traffic deaths in America.

The event takes place amid a genuine crisis: U.S. traffic crashes claimed 40,990 lives in 2023 – almost equal to the number of gun-related deaths – and sent more than 2.7 million people to emergency rooms. America has the highest rate of traffic deaths among 29 high-income countries analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The real tragedy is that these crashes are not accidents,” said Leah Shahum, the founder and Executive Director of the Vision Zero Network, a nonprofit which works to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries.”They are almost all preventable. On World Day of Remembrance, communities are calling on leaders to take proven measures to prioritize safety over speed.”

A fast-growing number of advocates are demanding greater use of proven safety measures, including redesigning streets, lowering speed limits, outfitting vehicles with life-saving technology, and more. A record number of communities are committing to Vision Zero – the goal of preventing traffic deaths and severe injuries – by using a Safe System approach in which we design and manage our systems – road infrastructure, vehicles, and related policies – to prioritize safety for all road users. Even the U.S. Department of Transportation has set its first-ever Vision Zero goal and released its first National Roadway Safety Plan.

“For the past century, the U.S. has prioritized the speed of vehicles over the safety of people,” said Leah Shahum, executive director of Vision Zero Network, a national nonprofit helping communities eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries. “On World Day of Remembrance, we see a record number of people demanding change to keep people safe as they move about their communities. We can do this.”

Vision Zero Network is partnering with Families for Safe Streets, It Could Be Me, Road to Zero Coalition, and National Safety Council to help communities across the nation organize local World Day of Remembrance events and to advocate for commonsense road safety solutions, including:

  • Adding new sidewalks, protected bikeways, and traffic calming measures.

  • Lowering speed limits and redesigning roadways to deter dangerous speeds.

  • Using lifesaving technologies, such as speed safety cameras and Intelligent Speed Assistance in vehicles.

    While the U.S. lags behind other high-income nations in improving road safety, there is evidence showing that when American communities invest in proven safety countermeasures, they see success. For example, Hoboken, N.J. has achieved zero traffic deaths for seven years in a row, thanks to investments in traffic calming, reducing speeds, and prioritizing safe street policies.

    Other noteworthy accomplishments include:

  • Fremont, CA, reduced fatalities by 45% from 2015 to 2020 after launching Vision Zero and focusing on upgrading crosswalks, slowing speeds, and narrowing travel lanes on high-speed arterials. 

  • In New York City, traffic deaths declined by more than 12%, with pedestrian deaths decreasing by 45%, when comparing data from 2023 and 2013, the year the City launched Vision Zero. Analysis shows NYC saved $90 million in healthcare costs over the first five years of its Vision Zero commitment. 

  •  Austin, TX, reduced fatal and serious injury crashes by 22% at 22 locations targeted with Vision Zero safety improvements, compared to a 1% increase for a comparison group of all other signalized intersections in Austin. 

  • Philadelphia, PA, has reduced fatal and serious injury crashes by 34% and total injury crashes by 20% in locations where they have made Complete Streets investments, including road diets, vehicle lane narrowing, separated bike lanes, speed cushions, and other proven traffic calming measures. 

“These communities’ experiences and others show that we can make changes to improve safety for people traveling on our streets, sidewalks, and bikeways,” said Shahum. “It will take time, but we can make progress by scaling up what works.”

“We have a crisis of traffic violence in this nation, stemming largely from poorly designed roads, unsafe vehicles, and policies that focus more on speed than safety. But we have the tools to fix this. Now we call on our policymakers at every level to lead the way in prioritizing safe streets and safe mobility for everyone in this nation,” said Amy Cohen, co-founder of Families for Safe Streets (FSS), whose beloved 12-year-old son Sammy was killed while crossing the street in front of his home.

FSS confronts traffic violence through advocacy and support for victims and survivors. Recent victories include Sammy Law, named after Amy’s son, which gave New York City control over its speed limit, Washington, DC’s passage of the first-ever law mandating the installation of anti-speeding technology called intelligent speed assistance in the vehicles of reckless drivers, California’s passage of automated speed cameras in communities across the state, and innumerable successful efforts to redesign the most dangerous roadways where FSS members were killed or seriously injured in communities nationwide.

“Since being hit and severely injured while biking in 2018 in Boulder, Colorado, I’ve advocated for proven safety changes in my community, statewide and nationally. I don’t want others to experience what I did. I know we can do better,” said Triny Willerton, founder of It Could Be Me, a non-profit that improves the relationship between motorists and other road users by creating an environment of mutual respect. “In the past few years, our safe streets advocacy includes a new state law penalizing careless driving that injures people walking and biking; enabling greater use of speed safety cameras; and banning the use of cell phones while driving, except with hands-free devices or in emergency situations.”

Shahum pointed to a new federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program, created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and run by the U.S. Department of Transportation, as a significant resource empowering Tribal, local, and regional efforts to save lives and reduce serious injuries on our roadways.

In its first three years, the SS4A grant program has supported more than 1,400 communities in 50 states and Puerto Rico with a total of $2.7 billion to plan and implement safety improvements. These communities represent 70% of the U.S. population, including rural, urban, and suburban locations, with more than half of the funds invested in underserved communities.

Learn more and get involved: World Day of Remembrance (wdor-usa.org).

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