Duluth has some of the most dangerously designed roads in the state. In 2023 that danger cost us $164 MILLION dollars to total, lifetime damages, according to National Security Council methodology.
To help understand that number, that's the equivalent of about $450k (!) per day.
Our roads are unsafe, which puts everyone we love at risk. In 2023, there were 300 crashes: for a town of 80,000, that's about 1 in 300 residents in a crash, every year. Over ten years, that's 1 in every 30. It's like a grim lottery that someone you know and care for will lose.
This immense burden on all of us is a policy choice. We can design a city with zero car-caused fatalities. Helsinki has a population 10x of Duluth, and recently achieved zero car-caused fatalities. Life goes on there, despite (or because of) prioritizing safety.
Primarily, that involves respecting the science of damage: 30+mph is the death & damage speed, and has no place near houses, businesses, driveways, walkways, bikeways, or intersections. We need to rebuild our streets so that they feel good to drive at 15-20mph. (Traffic calming like narrower lanes, medians, more trees, raised crossings, etc.)
I'm sure we all know people who have been involved in car collisions: maybe it was just an annoying fender bender, or maybe their health was ruined. Maybe they died. We need to stop allowing all this pointless violence by better design and policy.
Image and data taken from Vibrant Streets Duluth's Facebook page.