Posted on Jan 2, 2024
Kansas City traffic deaths keep going up, while its effort to make roads safer is underfunded
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Kansas City set a goal of ending all traffic fatalities by 2030, but last year proved to be one of its deadliest yet. While the Vision Zero program has been slowly fixing streets for pedestrians as well as cars, city leaders say it needs more funding to make that happen.
You’re trying to cross the street, only to jump back after a speeding car blazes through the crosswalk. You’re biking to work but nearly get hit after someone runs a red light. You’re driving back from the grocery store and have to swerve to avoid a reckless driver.
Kansas City residents know these experiences all too well, but many aren’t lucky enough to avoid being hit. In 2023, 102 people died in traffic crashes, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
That’s an increase from 2022, when 89 people died in crashes, and the opposite direction that Kansas City hoped it would see.
For the last three years, the city’s Vision Zero program has worked to change roadways with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities entirely by the end of the decade.
But Kansas City still has one of the country’s highest rates of fatal car crashes, and local advocates and leaders say the city’s fortune won’t change without more funding.
You’re trying to cross the street, only to jump back after a speeding car blazes through the crosswalk. You’re biking to work but nearly get hit after someone runs a red light. You’re driving back from the grocery store and have to swerve to avoid a reckless driver.
Kansas City residents know these experiences all too well, but many aren’t lucky enough to avoid being hit. In 2023, 102 people died in traffic crashes, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
That’s an increase from 2022, when 89 people died in crashes, and the opposite direction that Kansas City hoped it would see.
For the last three years, the city’s Vision Zero program has worked to change roadways with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities entirely by the end of the decade.
But Kansas City still has one of the country’s highest rates of fatal car crashes, and local advocates and leaders say the city’s fortune won’t change without more funding.
Kansas City traffic deaths keep going up, while its effort to make roads safer is underfunded
Posted from kcur.org
Kansas City
Driving
Cars
Safety
Death
Edited 6 mo ago
Posted 6 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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On New Year’s Eve I decided to go out. Early on accidents on several corners and towed off two police SUVs. I look for more information when I arrived safely home. I haven’t seen an article yet about what happened.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Last year, bike lanes added to the 3rd district along Truman Road — a project that complimented, but wasn’t technically part of, Vision Zero — faced the threat of removal after residents and business owners complained. While City Council considered a compromise that would take away a bike lane on one side of the street, no action has been taken yet.
In other instances, Kelley said projects have been changed or held up because of controversy over where projects should go, and who deserves them first.
“There is still this mindset of, ‘If I give this place more, that means that I'm getting less,’” Kelley said. “We can't continue to operate in a scarcity mindset because that inevitably means that the people who need it the most will continue to receive less than what they need to be safer.”...
..."Last year, bike lanes added to the 3rd district along Truman Road — a project that complimented, but wasn’t technically part of, Vision Zero — faced the threat of removal after residents and business owners complained. While City Council considered a compromise that would take away a bike lane on one side of the street, no action has been taken yet.
In other instances, Kelley said projects have been changed or held up because of controversy over where projects should go, and who deserves them first.
“There is still this mindset of, ‘If I give this place more, that means that I'm getting less,’” Kelley said. “We can't continue to operate in a scarcity mindset because that inevitably means that the people who need it the most will continue to receive less than what they need to be safer.”...
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