DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit has many dangerous streets and the city knows it. A new published report, the Detroit Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, says as of 2020, Detroit’s traffic crash fatality rate per capita was the second highest among large cities in the United States and the pedestrian fatality rate was the third highest.
Eboni Dozier said she wasn’t surprised to hear Gratiot is a particularly dangerous street.
“Not at all. It’s been this way for many years,” Dozier said.
She wants to see the city take action.
“Fix up the roads. Fix the street lights, the signs. Make things visible,” Dozier suggested.
The Detroit Comprehensive Safety Action Plan acknowledges, “Our fatal crash average continues to rise steadily and has rapidly climbed during the COVID-19 pandemic, out of pace with the nation and other large cities.”
It says between 2019 and 2020, fatalities on Detroit’s surface streets spiked from 94 to 150, an over 50% increase in just one year.
Todd Scott is the executive director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for more biking and walking infrastructure in the city.
He thinks the city is on the right path.
“It’s going to take a lot of work. They didn’t get into this position overnight,” Scott said.
He explained just how bad things are on Gratiot Avenue.
“We researched Gratiot a little bit and found that 1.5% of all the road fatalities in the state of Michigan occur on Gratiot within the city of Detroit, which is astounding,” Scott remarked.
He said the solution will need to come from many directions.
“We all need to work together. It’s not just a matter of more law enforcement or more education for drivers. We need to bring the engineers back to the table, redesign these roads and make them safer,” Scott explained.
Streets for People: Detroit Comprehensive Safety Action Plan by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd
In its report, the city lays out several strategies, actions and projects it will undertake over the next decade. The majority of the measures revolve around slowing traffic down.
Lance Woods is the co-founder of WERUN313, a running club that aims to provide unity, connectedness, self-love and awareness through running.
“WERUN313 — We run our city, we run our streets, we run our neighborhoods. And it’s very important for the people who live within the city to feel as safe as possible,” Woods said.
Woods acknowledges there’s room for improvement.
“When you talk about the neighborhoods where the people of Detroit actually live, it’s pretty unsafe. But I do see bike lanes and I do see different things happening to try to improve. But I think we can be moving at a faster rate,” Woods said.
He’s glad to know Detroit is acknowledging its faults and looking toward the future.
“I think when we hear different things about the city and where we can improve, it should motivate us to be better,” Woods said.
