LANSING, Mich — Damon Buycks has had his share of car accidents in Lansing. Some were scarier than others.
- Lansing reported over 35,000 crashes between 2014 and 2022, with 86 of them being fatal.
- The city has developed a "Safe Streets for All" plan after receiving a $200,000 grant.
City leaders aim to decrease traffic fatalities by 2% annually, targeting zero deaths by 2050.
WATCH: Lansing develops plan to make streets safer after years of fatal crashes
"When I was on the highway, one time, I got rear ended. That was up there on 96," Buycks said.
The crash left a car wreck for Buycks to fix, but he knows it could have been worse.
"I had a friend from high school, her friend died down the street right there on MLK," Buycks said.
Crash fatalities continue to be a significant issue in the capital city. Recent data shows that between 2014 and 2022, there were more than 35,000 crashes reported just in Lansing alone. Of those, 86 were fatal—an issue city leaders are now addressing.
"This is the city's safe street for all, plan and program," said Andy Kilpatrick, Director of Public Service for Lansing.
Kilpatrick says the city started working on the plan in 2022 after receiving a $200,000 grant. The first step was gathering public input.
"The main issues people saw were red light running, speeding as an issue, and safety for pedestrian cyclists," Kilpatrick said.
With that input, Kilpatrick and his team developed several safety measures to implement.
"Safer crossings, so crosswalk markers, enhanced traffic signals, and red light cameras and speeding cameras, which we can't ticket for, but we can give warnings, and the city is looking at implementing that," Kilpatrick said.
The plan was introduced to the city council on Monday, who will have the final say on whether these new safety measures will be implemented.
"Council will be the one to approve, then we could submit the approved plan to the state to get more federal funding to implement the plan," Kilpatrick said.
The major goal of the plan is to decrease traffic fatalities by 2% every year, targeting zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050. And as for drivers like Buycks, they're holding on to hope for safer roads in Lansing.
"There's always hope," Buycks said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
