KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Kalamazoo city officials say they're working on making the city more livable, starting with how we get from point A to point B.
According to city traffic engineer Dennis Randolph, there's an average of 3,000 crashes yearly. "We have way more crashes than a city of our size and population should expect to have compared with other Michigan cities," he says.
City officials say roads have become more dangerous for folks walking and biking. From 2010 to 2019, there was a 45% increase in pedestrian deaths.
"If we can even slow the average speed down two or three miles an hour, we make the chances of people surviving a crash, pedestrians, significantly greater," he said.
The Streets for Allproject intends to drive crashes down and "make the city a nicer place to live." Dennis told FOX 17 this will work by reducing lanes downtown, adding light fixtures and converting streets into two-way streets.
"Those are proven steps that will help slow traffic down. Those are the major ones that people see," he said, adding so far the steps they have taken are already working. "The numbers are falling in terms of crashes."
While the city is doing its best to make streets safer, Randolph says drivers still need to obey signals and slow down. He told FOX 17 he plans to send out updated crash data in July.
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