February is Speed Safety Awareness Month!
A memorial at the scene of the Aug. 3, 2021, fatal street racing crash that took the lives of three innocent victims: 21-year-old Cerain Baker, 20-year-old Jaiden Johnson, and 19-year-old Natalee Moghaddam.
(photo courtesy of Street Racing Kills)
We (along with multiple organizations and advocates) are celebrating after the California State Senate passed a resolution declaring February 2022 as Speed Safety Awareness Month in California! The resolution, SR 60, was co-sponsored by SAFE and authored by Senator Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park). It encourages all residents and community organizations in the state to support efforts to reduce speeding and to be aware that it is a major problem for everyone in California. This resolution is an important step in raising awareness of the epidemic of traffic-related deaths, many of which could be prevented if drivers simply slow down.
“We risk the lives of our children, family members, and neighbors when we don’t manage our speed,” says our Executive Director, Damian Kevitt. "Senator Rubio’s leadership on speed-safety awareness and efforts to protect all road users is deeply appreciated. My hope is that this resolution will bring even more attention to this ever-increasing public health crisis and the need to address it through legislation and a safe systems approach to traffic safety.”
Senator Rubio, a former public school teacher, and vice-principal said that protecting children and families from preventable tragedies was a major motivating factor for her in authoring this bill and working with Streets Are For Everyone on this effort.
“Driving fast on local roads can be deadly, especially for our children and their parents walking to school,” said Senator Rubio. “A recent study found that nearly 50 percent of cars are driving 11 miles per hour or higher above the speed limit in school zones. When I was a Vice Principal, I had to handle traffic at my school because it was so dangerous. Parents and children would struggle to walk safely as cars sped by in the school zone, and one year a student was struck by a car and killed. Deaths like this don’t need to happen if communities emphasize the importance of safe driving and speed limits are enforced.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a dramatic increase in dangerous driving and speeding cars throughout the state. While across the state there’s been a 3.9 percent increase in traffic fatalities in the last three years (2018-2020, Source: SWITRS), in some areas the increase has been a lot more. The City of Los Angeles saw a 24 percent increase in fatalities in 2021 compared to 2020 (Source: LAPD). Some other parts of California have seen even more dramatic increases in fatalities. For example, Kern County has seen a 44.1 percent increase in fatalities while Fresno County has seen a 43.5 percent increase in fatalities over the last three years (2018-2020, Source: SWITRS).
Data gathered by the California Highway Patrol indicates the number of drivers speeding over 100 miles per hour on the state’s highways nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020. California legislature passed two bills directly related to speed and street safety in the fall, but two other bills, including one authored by Senator Rubio and sponsored by SAFE that would have authorized the limited use of automated speed enforcement cameras in school zones that were found to be dangerous, died in committee.
There is so much more that can be done to address this issue, but this is an important step in the right direction! To learn more about how you can get involved in the movement for safer streets, visit https://www.streetsareforeveryone.org/join-the-movement.
