Strong Towns Members Are Shifting the Conversation About Car Crashes—And Saving Lives in the Process
(Source: Flickr/Carlos Ebert.)
Through the support of our members, the Strong Towns movement is shifting the conversation, one car crash at a time.
Last year, our team shared an idea for a new program to tackle the growing number of fatalities on our streets. Over 40,000 people are killed every year on roadways in the United States, and hundreds of thousands are seriously injured. We all hold memories of loved ones and community members who have been hurt or died on our streets; the scale of these losses is staggering. In January 2023, Strong Towns launched the Crash Analysis Studio to generate awareness of the flaws in our current system for evaluating traffic collisions, their causes, and prevention methods.
Over the past six months, Strong Towns has created and put into practice an alternative framework for crash analysis that takes all factors into account. Cities and towns can use this framework to improve the design and safety of their streets. Our aim is to shift the conversation that occurs after a crash from one focused on blame, to one where the goal is prevention of future tragedies. This dialogue has been occurring both inside and outside of our movement. Since January, Strong Towns has hosted the first five of a planned 18 Crash Analysis Studio sessions.
When we challenged our members to assist in this undertaking, they answered the call with enthusiasm and ambition.
“I am extremely grateful for today’s session. My hope is that the community copies this model and begins to ask for improvements from their elected officials… This process provides a way for anyone interested to learn that human error is not the only factor in a crash.”
The funding required to make the Crash Analysis Studio happen came from our members. You supplied the resources needed to turn this concept into reality. In particular, one Strong Towns member stepped forward with a major gift to allow us to start strong and create a powerful new tool for city officials and local residents. Thank you!
You, our members, have helped us not only to fund this important work, but also to implement it. When Strong Towns issued a request for crash nominations for the Studio, our members and Local Conversations participants jumped into action to submit nominations for crashes. The studio has received over 90 nominations, and our members continue to submit additional nominations. Nominations representing 29 states and three provinces have been submitted from across the United States and Canada. These crashes represent a broad spectrum of roadway types in towns, large cities, and even rural areas.
We want to pause and personally thank our Strong Towns members who have nominated the crashes featured in the Crash Analysis Studio thus far. Danny Schaible, Sharon Shaw, Marcus Batson, and Danny Williams were all incredibly helpful. These members, like each of you, grasped the concepts and background of what we were trying to do from the beginning in a way that helped Strong Towns staff feel more confident and comfortable planning these sessions. They were strategically heroic in how they pulled together the right resources, perspectives, volunteers, and even other Strong Towns members to make these sessions a success.
Each of these nominations is an example of the next smallest step we can take to address safe streets. We are committed to changing the way we design the public realm so that it becomes a safer place for flourishing communities; as a movement, we are shifting the conversation from reactive blame to proactive prevention that saves lives. The Crash Analysis Studio is a distinctive and powerful way of bringing us closer to these outcomes.
Will you become a member today and join people like Danny S., Sharon, Marcus, and Danny W. in this critical work? Support Strong Towns and the dedicated team that is producing the Crash Analysis Studio by signing up as a member. Your monthly or annual contribution will announce your readiness to ensure that the story of future generations is safer and stronger than what is currently written on our streets.
Tony is the Community Engagement Coordinator at Strong Towns. Tony believes incremental action and humility are key ingredients to community growth. Prior to joining the team, Tony worked in operations and communications with start-up ventures in the renewable energy and collaborative technology fields. His vocational experience spans across project management, process design, facilitation, fundraising, and organizational development. Tony holds a Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. He currently calls Annapolis, Maryland, home.