Salt Lake City recognizes road traffic victims on World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

SALT LAKE CITY — On Sunday, community members and local leaders honored pedestrians and cyclists who have been killed on Salt Lake City roads as it was World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

In a proclamation, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for nearly half the people killed in Salt Lake City roadway fatalities in the last few years. She said that since 2021, 66 roadway deaths have been recorded.

For people like Benjamin Wood, one is too many deaths.

“We don’t have to accept these deaths and these injuries. There’s simple things we can do,” Wood said.

Wood is with Sweet Streets Salt Lake City. The group has advocated for lower speed limits and dedicated areas for walking and biking on the city roads.

“Trails like the 9 Line Trail here. Wider sidewalks, street trees, better lighting,” he said.

Wood said riding a bike in the city can be terrifying and walking can be deadly.

“It’s because of how we build our streets,” Wood said. “Just last month, a woman lost her life walking on the sidewalk.”

Sweet Streets’ traffic violence map records every road traffic injury in yellow. Every red pin represents a deadly crash. According to the organization, the city averages one traffic death a month on its surface streets alone.

“There’s this sentiment that road deaths and road injuries are inevitable, that they’re just the cost of doing business, but they’re really not,” Wood said.

The city and Sweet Streets are trying to combat this statistic with Vision Zero. The plan promotes different engineering and increased enforcement of city streets.

“The natural gut instinct after someone gets injured or dies from a road traffic violent activity is to, oh, ‘I don’t want to bike. I’m scared.’ And we’re here to say, ‘You know what, actually? We can still ride,'” said bicyclist Lucas Matelich.

The group advocates for innovative street design in Salt Lake City that will allow us to grow and keep our neighbors alive.

“We are a place that people visit. We are a place that people work, but we’re also a place that people live. And sometimes we focus so much on the people who are going through the city that we tend to forget about the people that are here for keeps,” Wood said.

In her proclamation, Mendenhall said that 10 people have died in 2024 due to a roadway accident, and over two dozen others have been seriously hurt. Mendenhall pledged to reduce the number of deaths by zero in the coming years.

“Road traffic victims aren’t necessary,” Matelich said.