MILWAUKEE – Mayor Cavalier Johnson says his administration firmly believes that Milwaukee’s streets should be safe for everyone.
“Not just for automobiles but for pedestrians and stroller-pushers and bicycle riders and scooter riders as well,” Mayor Johnson told WTMJ.
So his administration has rolled out what it calls its “Vision Zero” plan. That plan includes completely changing some of the street infrastructure in some of the most heavily-traveled parts of the city.
“We’re allocating millions of dollars to address problem intersections along Capitol Drive, Congress, Fond du Lac Avenue, 60th Street and other neighborhoods similar to those across the city that have these high incidents of reckless driving crashes,” Mayor Johnson said.
Another part of the plan includes a proposal to reduce the posted speed limit on residential streets in Milwaukee to 20 miles-per-hour.
But when reckless drivers are going highway speeds on residential streets, is lowering the speed limit by five miles-per-hour actually going to make a difference?
Mayor Johnson says he thinks it will.
“I think it’s important for us to remember that it’s only a few people… It’s the minority of folks who are out there who are driving recklessly,” Mayor Johnson said.
“But because they’ve been doing it for so long, it seeps into other motorist behaviors behind the wheel.”
He mentioned people who feel forced to speed just to keep up with traffic so they don’t cause an accident.
“Lowering the speed limit, I think, would put us in a position where, the folks who are operating vehicles in a responsible manor, it puts us in a position where they’re slowing down so they’ll slow down the traffic behind them as well. Including the folks who are attempting to drive recklessly. So whether it’s directly or indirectly, the potential change in policy would have an impact on folks who are driving recklessly, including at speeds high and above what’s already posted.”
You can listen to more from Mayor Cavalier Johnson and his plan to combat reckless driving and traffic fatalities in Milwaukee in the player at the top of the page.
