Drivers: Slow Down

The Star Tribune reported last week that a Minnesota traffic study shows an uptick in vehicle fatalities in 2018. Heading into the Labor Day weekend, the 2019 numbers were ahead of the 2018 numbers. There have been 223 traffic deaths so far this year, compared with 218 at this time last year.

In 2018, the top cause of vehicle deaths was speeding. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone: Speed Kills. The Number One complaint I hear from people when I'm door knocking, meeting residents on National Night Out, or shopping at Cub is that motorists drive way too fast through Bloomington neighborhoods and on main traffic arteries. Drivers need to slow down. We can increase efforts at the City level to slow traffic through education, road design, and strict enforcement, but the bottom line is that drivers need to slow down. It's a safety issue, a neighborhood vitality issue, and quality of life issue.