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Combatting reckless driving, fatal crashes; Crowley signs legislation
County Executive David Crowley on Thursday, Aug. 29 signed legislation to combat reckless driving, traffic violence, and fatal and serious injury crashes.
MILWAUKEE - County Executive David Crowley on Thursday, Aug. 29 signed legislation affirming Milwaukee County's commitment to Vision Zero by the year 2037 in combatting reckless driving, traffic violence, and fatal and serious injury crashes.
"Enhancing the safety of our roads for all who use them is one of the most important issues facing the health, well-being, and economic vitality of our community. We simply must increase multimodal safety and reduce reckless driving," said County Executive Crowley.
According to a news release, since 2014, fatal crashes have increased throughout Milwaukee County at a higher rate than a majority of the country. That’s why Milwaukee County is committing to Vision Zero, a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy and equitable mobility for all.
The legislation Crowley signed into law represents one of eight requirements by the U.S. Department of Transportation for Milwaukee County and all 19 municipalities to be eligible to apply for millions of dollars in federal funding to redesign and reconstruct the most hazardous intersections and roadway segments in the county.
The seven other requirements are either completed or in process, the news release says. Milwaukee County has already been awarded nearly $2 million in state and federal funding that is going directly to increasing multimodal safety and reducing reckless driving.
"Working alongside Milwaukee County municipalities, we’re growing stronger, healthier, and more engaged. We will continue to exchange ideas, work to obtain federal funding, and take collective action to make our streets safer," said Donna Brown-Martin, Director of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation.
In 2023, Milwaukee County launched the Complete Communities Transportation Planning Project, a new safety initiative to increase multimodal safety and address reckless driving across all 19 municipalities in Milwaukee County. As part of this effort, Crowley and MCDOT published the first-ever Transportation Safety Assessment Report in February 2024 to determine which streets should be considered "Corridors of Concern" across Milwaukee County and where resources should be focused to keep drivers, bicyclists, transit riders and pedestrians safe.
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In March 2024, Crowley and the Milwaukee Area Safe Streets Taskforce (MASST) also released the Motor Vehicle Collision (MVC) Dashboard to advance comprehensive, data-driven solutions to increase safety for all who use local streets and roadways. In addition, Milwaukee County is utilizing federal funding to implement street safety improvements in Greendale, Shorewood, South Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, and West Allis, as well as in partnership with the City of Milwaukee on a critical segment of the 35th Street corridor, to combat reckless driving, calm traffic, and create safer streets for all.