Kalamazoo saw a 27 percent reduction in car crashes last year compared to pre-pandemic levels. That’s far above the six percent drop the state saw during the same period, the city said in a statement Monday.
Final data from last year also showed there were more than 400 fewer crashes compared to 2023.
Kalamazoo officials say these reductions are largely a result of the “Streets for All” initiative, which aims to reduce crashes through a variety of traffic-calming measures, from speed humps and roundabouts to narrowed lanes.
Traffic Engineer Dennis Randolph said Streets for All has prevented over a thousand crashes in the past three years, along with a minimum of 200 injuries.
“The resulting lessening of pain, suffering, and crash-related damage costs significantly benefits the entire community,” Randolph said.
"During 2025, the City of Kalamazoo will continue to apply safety and calming measures across the city. Engineering staff will also conduct further analyses to understand the individual impact of each of the safety countermeasures," the statement said.
"The staff, for example, has already taken a preliminary look at the impact of the City’s speed hump program and has found that across the city and on street segments that have speed humps, the average speed of traffic has decreased by about 2.3 miles per hour, and traffic volumes have decreased by about 11 percent."
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
