MILWAUKEE — Today, the City of Milwaukee launched a new campaign to reduce reckless driving and speeding on city streets called “Speeding – We Can Live Without It.”
Joined by families who’ve lost loved ones to fatal car crashes in Milwaukee, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson welcomed members of the Department of Public Works (DPW), the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) and Vision Zero to the Milwaukee Public Library’s Atkinson Branch to launch the new safety campaign.
Johnson emphasized the summer months can be the most dangerous.
“These are the 100 deadliest days of driving in the year,” Johnson said.
To date, city data showed 38 people have died in fatal crashes in Milwaukee so far in 2024. That’s on track with last year’s traffic fatalities at this point.
By the end of 2023, 80 people had lost their lives in crashes, far higher than the 32 total fatalities caused by car crashes in 2013.
“I ask that you set the example. You help us with the education the enforcement with your children, your loved ones and how their driving habits are,” said MPD captain Bradley Schlei, who added the department’s stepping up speed enforcement.
Also in the crowd on Monday was Gloria Shaw. She was holding a sign with pictures of her son, Xaiver Casanova Davis, at the event. Her son was 23-years old when he was hit and killed by a car two years ago. The driver took off, and still hasn’t been found.
“I had no clue that it was as bad as it was and when the nurse did come out and say, ‘He’s gone,’ I felt the wind being knocked out of me… There are no words that I can describe as to how I felt because he was my world. He was my only child,” said Shaw.
Shaw said she wants to make sure no other parent experiences the kind of pain she’s endured for the past two years. That’s why she and other families who are directly affected by reckless driving are joining the new campaign to end it.
“Before you get behind the wheel of a car, take into consideration you are risking your life, you’re risking your passenger’s lives and you are risking our lives,” said Shaw.
The new campaign will include messaging on MCTS buses, billboards in areas that have the most serious and deadly crashes and a social media campaign using the voices of residents affected by reckless driving and speeding.
Organizations that are interested in making a difference and joining the campaign can click here for more information.