World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

Sunday, November 19, 2023, marks World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The City will join community partners from the Vision Zero Task Force in honoring victims of traffic crashes, and their families, in Madison at a press conference on November 16 at 10:00 AM and through a display that will be set up through November 20 at the 100 block of State Street. 

“I know from personal experience how awful it is to lose a loved one in a traffic crash,” said Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. “Those who died have families, children and friends that miss them each and every day. As we remember the people lost, we also renew our commitment to ending traffic fatalities focusing on safe speeds, redesign of our streets to be safer for all users, and collaboration with other agencies to make all of the streets within the City safe.”

In the last five years, 68 people were killed on streets throughout Madison in traffic crashes. The Madison World Day of Remembrance event intends to demonstrate the devastating impact that traffic deaths cause in Madison and that traffic safety stakeholders are taking action to make our streets safer. 

The event also signifies the urgency of Vision Zero Madison. In 2023, 4 people have been killed while walking and 11 people have been killed while traveling in motor vehicles. 

Traffic related deaths are preventable and the City of Madison and the Vision Zero Stakeholder Task Force want to highlight changes that will make our City safer – including re-designing roads to support safer speed limits, providing safe spaces for people walking and bicycling and working collaboratively to work on policy changes to make our City safer for everyone to travel. Madison joins with many other cities across the United States and the globe in supporting changes to make travel safe.

Mayor Rhodes-Conway will be joined by members of the Vision Zero Stakeholder Task Force at the press conference including Denise Jess, Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired, Martha Cranley, AARP Wisconsin and Robbie Webber, Madison Bikes.

The World Day of Remembrance is an international event, started in 2005, honoring the 1.35 million people killed and millions more injured on the world’s roads each year and organizing change to prevent such tragedies. 

Press Conference and Display

What:                World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
When:               Thurs, Nov 16 at 10:00am
Where:             100 State Street

All Week:     Memorial Display, through Mon, Nov 20, 2023