The city of Milwaukee has set a lofty goal for itself — to reach a new all-time low in traffic-related deaths. If that sounds like a difficult task, consider that the number of Milwaukee’s traffic fatalities in 2013 approached the current all-time recorded low of 25 deaths. City officials believe research combined with community awareness and good old safe driving practices could help the city achieve this new low in time.

A city engineer working in Milwaukee says the city is studying a portion of 27th Street closely. Apparently, they are searching for effective ways to improve traffic safety through road design as well as the frequency and placement of traffic lights. The engineer also said city workers are studying how accidents occur and trying to determine whether some accidents occur due to a disregard of traffic signals or whether there is a large amount of angle-type accidents.

First responders are also getting in on the act, according to city officials. Milwaukee’s Fire Chief stated that first responders are looking at how they can improve the response time to a city car accident. He went on to say that if injured parties could be transferred from the site of the accident to a treatment facility within 30 minutes, they would have a seven times greater chance of survival.

Since Milwaukee began recording deaths due to car accident or other traffic-related incidents, the all-time low of 25 occurred in 1998 while the all-time high of 131 deaths occurred in 1926. It’s unlikely that any city could eliminate car, motorcycle or truck accidents altogether, but by working together with community members, a sharp reduction might be an achievable goal. In the meantime, car accident victims who are injured due to another party’s recklessness have a right to seek compensation for a variety of civil claims.

Source: Fox 6 Now, “City officials hoping to reach all-time low on traffic deaths” A.J. Bayatpour, Mar. 18, 2014