KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – City of Kalamazoo officials say 2024 proved to be a safer year for city-wide crashes, thanks to their Streets for All initiatives to narrow streets and reduce speeds.
Total 2024 end-of-year data for Kalamazoo reported 2,249 crashes, which is a drop from around 2,700 crashes in 2023, as well as a 27 percent reduction from an average of approximately 3,100 crashes reported between the years of 2014 and 2019.
In a release Tuesday, city officials says those declines compare favorably with a statewide reduction of approximately six percent during this period.
(courtesy City of Kalamazoo)
The City of Kalamazoo also experienced a city-wide reduction in bicycle and pedestrian-related crashes of 19 percent , with 70 total crashes in 2024 compared with 86 such crashes in the 2014-2019 period. The numbers favorably compare with a statewide reduction of 10 percent.
“The figures show this has not been a one-year phenomenon, but a solid, downward trend,” said Dennis Randolph, Public Works Manager and Traffic Engineer for the City of Kalamazoo. “It’s a trend we believe can be primarily attributed to the City of Kalamazoo’s Streets for All initiative and continued emphasis on reducing speeds and calming traffic.”
According to Randolph, Michigan State Police crash data shows that in the past three years Streets for All initiatives have prevented over 1,200 crashes and a minimum of 200 injuries. “The resulting lessening of pain, suffering, and crash-related damage costs significantly benefits the entire community,” said Randolph.
The Streets for All measures implemented so far include road diets (changing four-lane streets to three lanes), lane elimination and narrowing, roundabouts, traffic circles, bike lanes and cycle tracks, enhanced pedestrian crossing lighting and signing, pedestrian refuge islands, dynamic signal timing, audible pedestrian crossing signals, signal backplates, changing YIELD signs to STOP signs, adding STOP signs to uncontrolled intersections, general traffic signing upgrades, and speed humps.
“Each of the safety and calming measures we’ve implemented brings its own specific safety benefit,” said Randolph. “By tailoring these devices to specific crash and street characteristics at locations around the city, we are able to maximize safety overall to our street system.”
The city plans to apply additional safety and calming measures in 2025. Engineering staff will also conduct further analyses to understand the individual impact of each of the safety countermeasures.
The staff has already taken a preliminary look at the impact of the City’s speed hump program and has found that across the city and on street segments that have speed humps, the average speed of traffic has decreased by about 2.3 miles per hour, and traffic volumes have decreased by about 11 percent. They say that means residential streets where speed humps have been installed have become much safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.
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