Madison Reporter

 Top officials in Madison are picking up the pace in their crusade to make streets safer, enacting new speed limits along a stretch of John Nolen Dr.

Starting next week, the speed limit from North Shore Drive to Lakeside Street will fall from 45 mph to 35 mph, and later this month the speed limit on Mineral Point Road from Whitney Way to the Beltline will drop from 40 mph to 35 mph.

The changes are all part of the Vision Zero initiative launched by Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway in 2020, a recent City of Madison news release said. At the time, Rhodes-Conway stressed that the overall goal was to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries on Madison roadways, bikeways and sidewalks by the year 2030 through better signage, crossings and speed reductions throughout the city.

“Even 5 mph does make a difference in the outcome of a crash,” Renee Callaway, City pedestrian bicycle administrator, told WMTV this week. “It may not eliminate the crash, but it may take that serious or fatal crash and turn it into a more minor injury crash that people walk away from, their lives are not completely changed because of that crash.”

While some citizens are voicing complaints about the slower speed limits, City officials stress that they’ve done all they can to make sure the changes run smoothly, including retiming traffic lights to match the new speed limits. Over the first six months of 2022, data shows there have been19 fewer serious crashes than the first six months of 2021.

Across the country, more than 40 cities have established Vision Zero zones, with the core principle being that death and injury on city streets are preventable by pushing for smarter and safer street designs that help limit dangerous driving and account for human error.