Slow Roads Save Lives
If we asked you to imagine what the perfect summer evening slow roll through your neighborhood would feel like in an ideal world, you probably wouldn’t include cars zipping by. Or if we asked you what makes a sidewalk stroll on Main Street fun for the whole family, you probably wouldn’t say cars racing past.
That’s because cars tearing through our neighborhoods isn’t the American dream, despite what commercials might try to sell you. Safe roads, slow streets, and thriving communities are what we all want. Roads where people biking, walking, using mobility devices, and driving can all get home safely. Roads designed to prevent crashes and traffic fatalities and mitigate the harm of those few that do occur.
At the League, we have been advocating for safe, “good roads” since the 1880s, when we launched the Good Roads Movement.
But what are “good roads”?
Learn more
Read our recaps of past webinars and watch the recordings.
Campaign launch:
Setting Speeds for Safety:
Neither by 1889 nor 2024 standards could what we have today in the United States be considered “good roads”. Certainly not by the metric of safety: roads in the United States saw more than 42,000 deaths in 2021 – the most recent year with national data. People biking have seen a more than 50% increase in deaths since 2009 to 966 in 2021 – the highest number in 45 years.
Ultimately, a “good road” is a slow road. A slow road is a safe road. And a safe road makes life better for everyone.
So the League is launching a new campaign for better roads and better biking, the “Slow Roads Save Lives” campaign.
“Slow Roads Saves Lives” calls on everyone – you, your neighbors, local leaders, traffic engineers – to embrace slowing down and saving lives.
The Slow Roads Save Lives Pledge
Take the "Slow Roads Save Lives" pledge to help us show how many people across the country support slow speeds and slow roads that save lives.